Safe School Committees

Due to the growing concern of safety and the ever constant threat of violence in the public schools, the Oklahoma Legislature has enacted certain statutory mandates to assist in combating this rising problem. This Policy will implement the legislative mandate for the establishment and operation of safe school committees in the NTC as follows.

The campus director at each school site within NTC where students are regularly present during the school day shall establish a Safe School Committee for the campus director's school site to be composed of at least seven (7) members, with an equal number of teachers, parents and students and a school official who participates in the investigation of reports of harassment, intimidation, bullying and threatening behavior. All members of each Safe School Committee shall serve until the following June 30 unless earlier removed from the Committee by the campus director for any reason. The campus director who appoints the Safe School Committee members shall advise the Superintendent, in writing, of the names, addresses and phone numbers of the committee members. In case of a resignation, death or removal of any Committee member, the campus director shall immediately appoint a successor Committee member so as to maintain the composition of the Committee as set forth above. Committee members are eligible to serve consecutive terms.

Each Safe School Committee shall study and make recommendations, in writing, to the campus director regarding:

• Unsafe conditions, possible strategies for students to avoid harm at school, student victimization, crime prevention, school violence and other issues that prohibit the maintenance of a safe school;

• Student harassment, intimidation and bullying at school;

• Professional development needs of faculty and staff to implement methods to decrease student harassment, intimidation and bullying; and

• Methods to encourage the involvement of the community and students, the development of individual relationships between students and school staff, and use of problem-solving teams that include counselors and/or school psychologists.

As part of the process, each Committee shall review traditional and accepted harassment, intimidation and bullying prevention programs utilized by other states, state agencies or school districts.

Each Safe School Committee shall meet at least once each semester. Each Committee shall appoint a committee chairperson who shall maintain written minutes of each meeting. The Committee chairperson will be responsible for notifying all Committee members of meetings, preparing agendas for each meeting and posting the agendas in the campus director's office for a reasonable period prior to the date and time of each meeting. The campus director of each school site will retain all agendas, minutes and other documents related to the Safe School Committee. Prior to the last day of school of each school year, each Safe School Committee shall make a written report to the campus director. The campus director shall transmit a copy of the report to the Superintendent. The Superintendent shall maintain the reports in the records of the District and shall transmit a copy of each Safe School Committee report to each board member.

Healthy and Fit School Advisory Committees

NTC also establishes Healthy and Fit School Advisory Committees, which shall be combined with the NTC’s Safe Schools Committees. The Healthy and Fit School Advisory Committees are established pursuant to Okla. Stat. tit. 70, § 24-100a, which created the Healthy and Fit Kids Act of 2004.

The Committees shall be composed of no fewer than six (6) individuals who may be the same individuals appointed to NTC’s Safe School Committees. The composition of the Advisory Committees may include teachers, administrators, parents of students, health care professionals and business community representatives.

The Advisory Committee at each school site shall study and make recommendations to the campus director regarding:

• Health education;

• Physical education and physical activity; and

• Nutrition and health services.

Campus directors shall give consideration to the recommendations of their respective advisory committees. The Advisory Committee, for purposes of timelines, shall follow the same schedule as established for the District’s Safe School Committees.

Adopted on December 1, 2008