Nevada school emergency plan law
What Nevada requires of school emergency operations plans: who writes one, what goes in it, and how often it's reviewed.
Every fact checked against the official source by an independent reviewer · Last verified October 26, 2026
Does Nevada require schools to have an emergency plan?
Nevada law requires the board of trustees of each school district to set up an emergency operations plan development committee, which writes one plan for the district's public schools other than charter schools. Each charter school's governing body must set up its own committee to write the charter school's plan for crises, emergencies, suicide and all other hazards. Each public school must follow the plan written for it, except for approved deviations. The governing body of each private school must also set up a committee to write the school's own plan, and each private school must follow its plan, except for approved deviations.
Who sits on the planning committee?
The committee must include at least one local law enforcement representative and at least one representative of a state or local emergency management organization. While writing the plan, the committee must consult local social service agencies and local public safety agencies. It must also consult the State Fire Marshal or a designee and the local fire-safety code authority. The principal of each public school must set up a school committee to review the plan.
What must the plan contain?
Each district or charter school plan must include the Department of Education's model plan.
| Plan element | Where it comes from |
|---|---|
| A clear hierarchy of authority and responsibility | NRS 388.243(2)(h) |
| Response to a crisis or emergency during extracurricular activities on school grounds | NRS 388.243(2)(f) |
| A plan to coordinate with law enforcement or public safety organizations on active assailant training for each school employee | NRS 388.243(2)(j) |
| Trauma-informed, age-appropriate support for students after a crisis or emergency | NRS 388.243(2)(k) |
| Community counselors, including a state or local mental health provider, for students and staff | NRS 388.243(2)(d) |
| Notifying faculty, staff and parents of a crisis or emergency, including by text message or email | NRS 388.243(2)(l) |
| Telling parents at least twice each school year about state firearm-storage requirements | NRS 388.243(2)(m) |
| Immediate response to a cardiac emergency, including cardiac arrest | NRS 388.243(2)(n) |
The model plan, which every district and charter plan includes, must contain these procedures:
- evacuating the school and securing the school
- carrying out a lockdown, and sheltering in specific areas of a school
- accounting for everyone in the school
- reunifying a student with a parent or legal guardian
- evacuating a charter school to a designated space in a named district middle, junior high or high school
- selecting an assessment tool to help respond to a threat against the school by a student
- drills on an annual basis that teach students how to respond to a crisis or emergency
- recovering from a crisis or emergency, and disaster behavioral health afterward
- meeting the needs of students at high risk of suicide afterward, a group that includes students with disabilities
The model plan must also give specific information on managing an active shooter, a hazardous materials incident, and threats or hazards named in the county hazard mitigation plan, if one exists. The district and charter plan contents list does not name floor plans, site maps or blueprints, or students with disabilities or access and functional needs. Private school plans must also include a plan for immediately responding to cardiac emergencies.
How often must the plan be reviewed?
| Who | What | When |
|---|---|---|
| District or charter planning committee | Reviews and updates the plan | At least once a year |
| District or charter planning committee | Gives the updated plan to the board or charter governing body | On or before August 1 each year |
| Each school committee | Reviews the plan and decides whether the school should deviate from it | At least once a year |
| Private school committee | Reviews and updates the plan | At least once a year |
| Department of Education | Reviews and updates the model plan | At least once a year |
In its review, the school committee must consider law enforcement and fire response times to the school.
Is the plan filed with the state?
The board or charter governing body must submit its plan to the Office of Emergency Management, within the Office of the Governor, for review. It must submit the updated plan to that office on or before August 15 each year. Districts and charter schools must post a notice on their websites when each yearly review is complete, and file a copy of that notice with the Department of Education. Districts and charter schools must give a copy of each plan to each local public safety agency in the county. On or before August 15 each year, a private school must give copies of its plan to local public safety agencies, the Office of Emergency Management and the local emergency management organization. A private school renewing its license must submit its crisis plan to the Office of Emergency Management, and a school declaring itself exempt from private school licensing must include a copy of its crisis plan. Department of Education guidance says completed plans are uploaded to the Emergency Response Plan Portal.
Does the plan involve police and fire?
At least once every three years, the school safety specialist must give likely first responders a chance to get familiar with school blueprints. Public school blueprints must be given, in their most current version, to a public safety agency that asks for them. School districts in counties of 100,000 or more must name a full-time emergency manager.
Is training tied to the plan?
Districts and charter schools must give each employee crisis and emergency response training at least once a year, including training on evacuation and securing drills. Private schools must give each employee crisis and emergency response training at least once a year. The school safety specialist must make sure employees and students get training on emergency procedures, including the plan.
Is the plan confidential?
Public school plans, updates, deviations and the model plan are confidential and may not be disclosed except as statute allows. Private school plans, deviations and related information are confidential. Public school blueprints, and any revisions, are confidential. Nevada's Open Meeting Law does not apply to meetings of the plan development committee. The Office of Emergency Management may share school plans with local public safety agencies when reasonably necessary for terrorism or related emergencies or for emergency preparedness.
How is compliance checked?
The Office of Emergency Management must submit its compliance report on school plans on or before January 1 each year, and may audit submitted plans at random. NRS 388.246, the compliance section, sets that report and the random audits but no penalty for a district, charter school or school that fails to adopt or submit a plan. By November 15 each year, the Chief of the Office of Emergency Management must tell the Superintendent of Public Instruction whether each district, charter school and private school has met the plan requirements. The school safety specialist must do a school security risk assessment every year and submit it to the Office for a Safe and Respectful Learning Environment. Boards and charter governing bodies may apply for and accept gifts and grants to carry out the school plan laws.
What has changed recently?
SB 38 (2025), Chapter 44, lets the state's emergency management office share school emergency operations plans with local public safety agencies in certain circumstances; it took effect when approved on May 26, 2025. AB 454 (2025), Chapter 313, requires public and private school plans to address cardiac emergencies; it took effect July 1, 2025. AB 553 (2025), Chapter 279, moved the Division of Emergency Management to the Office of the Governor and renamed it the Office of Emergency Management. The State Board of Education adopted a regulation on the model emergency plan (LCB File R082-25) at its April 22, 2026 hearing, and it was approved and filed July 1, 2026. Under R082-25, the plan frameworks the Department presents to the State Board and posts online must leave out plan information that is confidential under state law.
How can QuickSecure help?
SOPs keeps your emergency operations plan and procedures in one place, and staff can open them from their phones.
Each procedure keeps its version history, so you can see what changed and when.
You choose which roles can see each procedure, and staff confirm they've read it, so you can see who has.
During an Alert, your procedures become step-by-step checklists for each staff member.
This is not a statement that any product satisfies Nevada's requirements; that reading belongs to your district and its counsel.