School Safety

Natural, manmade and technological events are forcing Americans to change their way of thinking about securing our nation’s top investment—children. Georgia law directs GEMA/HS to provide school safety training and technical assistance to the education, emergency management and public safety communities of Georgia.

These services are provided through GEMA/HS. House Bill 147, also known as the Safe Schools Act, was passed in April 2023 and mandated certain requirements of public schools across the state to enhance school safety. These requirements include:

• Developing a school safety and anti-gang endorsement through the Professional Standards Commission that uses multidisciplinary best practices.
• School safety plans must be submitted to GEMA/HS for review.
  • Must cover preparedness for natural disasters, hazardous materials, acts of violence and/or terrorism, violence prevention, threat assessment, and mental health awareness.
  • Developed with input from school safety partners from multiple disciplines.
  • Exercised and evaluated.
• Intruder alert drills must be completed by all public schools annually and then reported to GEMA/HS.