Safety Audit Components

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, all public schools are required to conduct an annual school safety audit in order to assess school safety conditions. Through enabling legislation (§ 9.1-184), the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety (VCSCS) has been designated to collect, analyze, and disseminate various Virginia school safety data including school safety audit information. In 2005, the General Assembly transferred the authority to collect school safety audit information from the Department of Education to the Department of Criminal Justice Services. To date, the VCSCS has developed five components for the school safety audit program:

Virginia School Crisis Management Plan Review and Certification
Virginia School Survey of Climate and Working Conditions (administered in the Spring)
School Safety Inspection Checklist (due every three years)

1) School Safety Survey (annually)

In the Commonwealth of Virginia, all public schools are required through legislation to conduct an annual school safety audit in order to assess safety conditions. As a means for collecting individual school safety audit information, the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety (VCSCS) annually administers the School Safety Survey.

2) Division Safety Survey (annually)

The Division Safety Survey is administered to capture information from the division level on policy changes and division-level practices.

3) Virginia Crisis Management Plan Review and Certification (annually)

Amended Virginia Code § 22.1-279.8 requires Virginia’s public school boards to annually review the written school crisis, emergency management, and medical emergency response plans of each school it supervises.

4) Virginia School Survey of Climate and Working Conditions (administered in the Spring)

This survey is administered in collaboration with the Virginia Department of Education, Virginia Tech, and the University of Virginia. There are two companion surveys, one for students and another for teachers and other staff.

5) School Safety Inspection Checklist and Certification (due every three years)

Changes to the Code of Virginia from the 2013 General Assembly added a requirement for schools to conduct a school inspection walkthrough using a checklist provided by the Virginia Center for School and Campus Safety.

FY2025 Annual Division Safety Audit

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