Washington § 28A.400.345 - School safety and security staff — Required training.

(1) Prior to assigning safety and security staff to work on school property when students are expected to be present, school districts and their contractors must either:

(a) Confirm that the safety and security staff have training series documentation provided under RCW 28A.310.515; or

(b) Require the safety and security staff to complete the training series described in subsection (2) of this section.

(2)(a) The training series, two components for school resource officers and three components for other safety and security staff, must meet the requirements in this subsection.

(b) All safety and security staff must complete classroom training on the subjects listed in RCW 28A.310.515(2), within the first six months of working on school property when students are expected to be present.

(c) All safety and security staff must complete two days of on-the-job training with experienced safety and security staff, at the school of the experienced staff, within the first year of working on school property when students are expected to be present.

(d) Safety and security staff who are not school resource officers must complete at least six check-in trainings with experienced staff within the first year of working on school property when students are expected to be present.

(3) School safety and security staff who complete the training series described in subsection (2) of this section, and staff with significant prior training and experience, may request training series documentation from an educational service district under RCW 28A.310.515.

(4) Nothing in this section effects the categorization of safety and security staff as classified staff. Safety and security staff are not considered certificated instructional staff as that term and its meaning are used in this title.

(5) The definitions in this subsection apply throughout this section unless the context clearly requires otherwise.

(a) "Safety and security staff" or "staff" has the same meaning as in RCW 28A.320.124.

(b) "School resource officer" has the same meaning as in RCW 28A.320.124.

Findings—Intent—2021 c 38: "(1) The legislature acknowledges the disproportionate impact that interactions with police have on youth of color and on black youth in particular. Not only are black youth more likely than their white peers to have contact with police at a young age despite similar or lower rates of illegal behavior, but early police contact for black youth is predictive of future arrests in a way that is not true for white youth.

(2) The legislature finds that schools should be a place in which all youth feel safe and it is imperative that school resource officers, school security officers, and other school safety and security staff do not contribute to an unsafe environment for black youth and youth of color.

(3) The legislature recognizes that chapter 333, Laws of 2019 made significant improvements to the quality and transparency of school districts' school resource officer programs by implementing training and intergovernmental agreement requirements. However, the legislature intends to expand these requirements to other school safety and security staff. The legislature also expects to require on-the-job training. In addition, the legislature finds that in order to understand the full scope and impact of safety and security staff on school property, additional information must be collected and made publicly available." [ 2021 c 38 s 1.]