School safety: the security level before enrolling and the incident report

It is the school community’s bill of rights on safety. It does not address a specific incident between two students, but the school as a condition: what security level it has, what incidents have been recorded, what crisis plan exists and who answers for order on the premises. The law organizes everything into two symmetrical chapters: II lists rights by group — students, teaching staff, parents and non-teaching staff — and III lists responsibilities, including those of the Department of Education, students, parents, private business and government agencies.

The four groups the law calls the school community: every student in the public school system; all teaching staff working at a public system institution — the law names teachers, librarians, counselors, social workers and others; every parent with children in the Public Education System, including guardians and caretakers; and all non-teaching staff. It is the public system: the law addresses the Department of Education, its schools and its regulations.

• Being part of the public system’s school community: student, parent, guardian or caretaker, teaching staff or non-teaching staff. There is no prior application or admission procedure for these rights.Verified against the official source

• The General Student Regulation of the Public Education System and the Internal Security Regulation, with their provisions and sanctions. The law gives both students and parents the right to receive guidance and a copy of both, and orders the Department to make them known through copy and orientation.

1. 1

   Step 1: The security level, before enrolling

   This is the best-timed right and the one most often lost for lack of knowing it. Article 2.03(b) gives parents the right to **know what security level the school their children will attend is at, before completing the enrollment paperwork**. Subsection (c) completes it: the right to enroll the child in a school with security levels conducive to the student’s full development in an environment of peace. The law does not define in its text what a "security level" is nor publish the scale; it does mention in Article 3.01(g) that there are schools "declared unsafe by the Department of Education", and that in those the school authorities must coordinate with the Police the installation of security devices such as video cameras and alarm systems. **The criteria for that classification are not in the law and we do not publish them.**

2. 2

   Step 2: The violent incident report

   Article 2.03(f) gives parents the right to **receive a copy of the report of violent incidents recorded each semester at the school their children attend**. On the agency side, Article 3.01(f) describes how that data is produced: the Department of Education issues directives to principals to prepare a report of violent and non-violent incidents on school grounds; using a uniform format, the principal compiles the information and analyzes the data; and then the principal prepares a quarterly report of those findings and submits it to the School Quality of Life Program. Both cadences are in the law as we quote them — per semester toward the parent, quarterly toward the Program — and we neither reconcile them nor assume which governs. Students have their own information right in Article 2.01(d): to be informed about violent situations that have occurred in the school environment, so they can stay alert to them.

3. 3

   Step 3: Reporting without being exposed

   The law repeats the same guarantee four times, once per group, and that insistence is what makes it strong. To the student, Article 2.01(g): that their safety, physical integrity and anonymity be guaranteed when they have reported a violent act they witnessed to school or school-security authorities. To teaching staff, 2.02(e); to parents, 2.03(g); and to non-teaching staff, 2.04(e): that confidentiality and anonymity be guaranteed when giving sensitive security information to the Principal or school security authorities in order to report any criminal conduct inside the school. That right is written in the same language for all three adult groups.

4. 4

   Step 4: Being told in time about your child

   Article 2.03(h) gives parents the right to **be promptly informed, by the Principal or the school’s teachers, when their child is engaging in conduct that may generate violent acts inside the school**. It is not a notice after the fact: the law writes it in the present tense and about conduct that "may generate" violent acts. The same article holds two other participation rights: (e), to take part as an active member of the School Council, the Security Council, the Security Committee and other committees fostering school safety; and (i), to receive support information on conflict management and fostering a culture of peace in the school environment.

5. 5

   Step 5: Emergencies: hurricane, earthquake, fire

   All three groups have a right to emergency orientation, and the law names the same ones: hurricanes, earthquakes, gas leaks, fires or terrorist attacks. The student, Article 2.01(i): to be oriented on the processes to follow in those situations. Teaching staff, 2.02(g): to be oriented and trained on handling those situations when their physical integrity or their students’ may be in danger. And the parent, 2.03(j): to receive orientation on their functions and responsibilities in handling those situations. On the Department’s side, Article 3.01(i) orders it to promote the development of rapid response plans, including evacuation plans for fire, earthquake, gas leaks and bomb or terrorist threats; requires every component of the school system to be clear on its role; and orders the plan to include a communication strategy with the Police, Fire Department, Medical Emergencies and the State Emergency Management Agency, plus a communication plan with parents and with the media.

6. 6

   Step 6: The 100 metres around the school

   Article 3.05(b) sets a perimeter many people do not know: Police Officers or School Agents I and II **shall be responsible for institutional order on school grounds, within one hundred (100) metres around them and at school-sponsored activities**, under the regulation established to that end. The law adds that those agents must develop positive relationships with the school community’s components. The rest of Article 3.05 places responsibilities on elected officials and agencies: promoting legislation, holding conferences on preventing school violence and drug use, attending school activities, supporting research projects, providing funds for security devices and incident-statistics monitoring programs, and establishing interagency agreements with federal agencies, municipalities and private business.

7. 7

   Step 7: What the law asks of you

   Chapter III also distributes duties. To the student, Article 3.02: comply with the General Student Regulation and seek to solve problems non-violently; **report any violent act, crime, vandalism or threat they know of to the principal, a teacher or a parent or caretaker**; take part in crime prevention programs; help identify places prone to criminal conduct inside the school; and seek help from a school community member when facing a dangerous situation. To parents, Article 3.03: foster communication with their children; visit the school regularly and pick up the academic progress report at the end of each semester; be consistent in disciplinary messages; get involved in the School Council and activities; **keep firearms out of minors’ reach**; and limit children’s exposure to violent content, supervising what they watch on television, films, the Internet or video games. Article 3.04 addresses private business in permissive terms — it "may" adopt a school, offer trainings, provide after-school jobs — and asks it one concrete thing: give parents time to take part in the school’s conferences and activities.

At the school and before the Department of Education. The security level is requested at the school before completing enrollment; the semester incident report is requested at the school the children attend; sensitive security information is given to the Principal or school security authorities, who are the ones who must guarantee confidentiality and anonymity. What we do not publish: the form to request the incident report, the name of the office holding it, the security level scale, the criteria for declaring a school unsafe, or the content of the General Student Regulation or the Internal Security Regulation. Act 110-2006 orders those documents and names those classifications, but does not contain them; that is why processing time stays unverified.

• Completing enrollment without asking the security level: the Article 2.03(b) right expressly applies before completing the paperwork.
• Not requesting the semester violent-incident report: it is a parent’s right, not a school courtesy.
• Staying silent for fear of retaliation: the law guarantees confidentiality and anonymity to parents, teaching staff, non-teaching staff and students alike.
• Believing a student who reports is left exposed: Article 2.01(g) guarantees them safety, physical integrity and anonymity.
• Not claiming a copy of the General Student Regulation and the Internal Security Regulation: the law gives a right to orientation and a copy of both.
• Assuming the school agent’s responsibility ends at the fence: Article 3.05(b) extends it to one hundred metres around and to school-sponsored activities.
• Waiting for something to happen before being told: Article 2.03(h) gives the right to be promptly informed about conduct that may generate violent acts.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Departamento de Educación de Puerto Rico

  Educación

  bvirtualogp.pr.gov

• Puerto Rico Department of Education

  Educación

  de.pr.gov