North Dakota school emergency plan rule

Does North Dakota require school emergency plans?

Not through its school safety plan statute: NDCC 15.1-09-60 says a school district board "may" develop a school safety plan, with input from the district's voters, so it allows a plan but does not require one. The fire plan duty for school buildings comes through the State Fire Code, a State Fire Marshal rule (NDAC 10-07-01-04) that adopts the 2018 edition of the International Fire Code (IFC), with listed state changes. Under the 2018 IFC, which North Dakota's State Fire Code adopts, an approved fire safety and evacuation plan must be prepared and maintained for every Group E (school) building. North Dakota's changes to the 2018 IFC leave chapter 4 (emergency planning) untouched, so the code's school plan, drill and training rules apply as written. A fire safety and evacuation plan covers fire and evacuation, not every emergency; it includes evacuation routes, accounting for staff and students afterward, rescue and medical aid, and alerting occupants and the fire department. The current version of the State Fire Code rule took effect July 1, 2020.

What must the fire safety and evacuation plan contain?

Under the 2018 IFC as adopted by NDAC 10-07-01-04, the plan must include items such as:

Under the 2018 code a lockdown plan is not required; the code allows one only if the fire code official (the fire inspector who enforces the code) approves it, and it must then cover set contents, including drills.

How often is the plan reviewed?

The fire safety and evacuation plan must be reviewed or updated every year, and whenever staff assignments, occupancy or the building layout change.

Is the plan filed anywhere?

The plan must be available to staff, and a copy must go to the fire code official on request.

What training and drills are tied to the plan?

Staff must be trained on the fire safety and evacuation plan when they are hired and at least once a year after that, and training records must be kept. Under the 2018 IFC, school buildings must hold an evacuation drill every month with all occupants, the first within 10 days of the start of classes; the code allows the fire code official to change how often drills happen in severe climates.

Who enforces the fire code in schools?

State law lets the state fire marshal and deputy state fire marshals enforce the state's laws on fire and life safety code compliance in all public and private elementary and secondary schools. By rule, the State Fire Code applies to everyone in North Dakota unless specifically exempted.

What is the cardiac emergency response plan duty?

Beginning with the 2027-28 school year, each public and nonpublic school must use the state template to develop a cardiac emergency response plan for inclusion in the school district crisis management plan. The Department of Health and Human Services, working with the superintendent of public instruction, must create a customizable template for schools. The template must require review and adoption of the plan by the district crisis management team, with the plan reviewed annually. It must also require annual review and evaluation of the plan. It must require coordination with local emergency medical services providers. It must name the school staff who receive training, including licensed coaches, school nurses and athletic trainers.

What other plan duties exist?

Armed first responder program. The program is voluntary: the law allows the superintendent of public instruction to accept a school's board-approved proposal to take part. By rule, any public or nonpublic school may opt in by submitting a board-approved letter of intent, and the statute lets a nonpublic school's governing body set up a school first responder plan. A participating school must take part in a comprehensive emergency operations assessment to identify school crisis and emergency threats and risks. By rule, its proposed plan must describe the school's overall safety plan and include, at a minimum, the listed criteria. Those criteria include training with local law enforcement for a coordinated response to lockdown and active assailant events. The plan must be approved by local law enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security. By rule, a school that modifies its approved plan must submit the modified plan to the superintendent of public instruction within thirty days.

Safety spending report. Each school district must report to the superintendent of public instruction each year, before December 1, what it spent on school safety and security measures in the previous school year. Those measures include security planning and updating and exercising school emergency preparedness plans.

Safety plan levy. State law allows a district board to levy up to five mills (a property tax rate) to develop a school safety plan, with the money going into a school safety plan fund. The levy needs approval by a majority of the district's voters voting on the question, and that approval lasts no more than five taxable years.

Is the plan confidential?

The parts of a district school safety plan that address student security are exempt from North Dakota's open-records law. Separately, a security system plan kept by any public entity, and records on disaster preparation, response and recovery, are exempt from the open-records law. Under the open-records definitions, a school district is a political subdivision (a local government body). An armed first responder school's plan is treated as a security system plan and a public health and security plan under the open-records exemptions.

Is there state guidance?

NDDPI (the Department of Public Instruction) guidance says schools must plan for emergencies by creating a comprehensive school emergency operations plan; this is agency guidance, not a statute or rule. The guidance points districts to the North Dakota Safety Council for an optional onsite emergency operations planning assessment.

What has changed recently?

2025 HB 1363 (2025 S.L. ch. 166) enacted the cardiac emergency response plan requirement for public and nonpublic schools and athletic events. 2023 HB 1337, relating to school safety and security measures and providing for a report, was signed by the Governor. The legislature held two 2026 special sessions, January 21-23 and September 2-4, 2026. None of the 16 bills in those special sessions dealt with school safety or emergency plans.