(1) Existing law requires a school district, county office of education, and charter school to annually inform parents and guardians of pupils at the beginning of the first semester or quarter of the regular school term of California’s child access prevention laws and laws relating to the safe storage of firearms, as specified. Existing law requires the State Department of Education, on or before July 1, 2023, to develop, and subsequently update as provided, in consultation with the Department of Justice, and provide to school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, and, upon request, to provide to private schools, model language for the notice regarding those child access prevention and safe storage of firearms laws.

(2) Existing law requires the State Department of Education, on or before June 15, 2025, to curate and post on its internet website best practices pertaining to school shooter or other armed assailant drills for use by school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools, as provided. Existing law encourages a school district, county office of education, or charter school to comply with those best practices.

This bill would require those best practices to also include a recommendation to distribute the Secure Firearm Storage Notice published by the department in Section 49896 when providing a specified drill-related notice to parents and guardians of pupils.

(3) Existing law requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction to send a notice to each middle school, junior high school, and high school that encourages each school to provide suicide prevention training to each school counselor at least one time while employed as a counselor, provides information on the availability of the suicide prevention training curriculum developed by the department, and informs schools about the suicide prevention training provided by the department and describes how a school might retain those services.

This bill would require that notice to also include the Secure Firearm Storage Notification model content published by the department as an example of information about reducing access to lethal means that can be given by a school counselor to a pupil’s family, as provided.