Utah Administrative Rule 277: Updated Emergency Safety Intervention (ESI) Training Requirements for School Employees
Effective March 10, 2025, there are updated training requirements for all Utah school employees who supervise students. Beginning with the 2025-26 school year, teachers, staff members, administrators, and any other individuals who supervise students must receive foundational behavior support training that includes behavioral or emotional crisis management, including de-escalation strategies.
School employees must complete this training within two months of employment, or within 30 days if working directly with a student with disabilities, as well as on a bi-annual basis.
In addition to foundational behavior support training, Utah Administrative Rule 277 also requires key identified person(s) to receive advanced training in the appropriate, safe, and effective use of ESI. The comprehensive ESI training must be completed before an employee is authorized to use ESI with a student, and annually thereafter.
Three Easy Steps to Bring CPI to Your School District
Step 1: Schedule a 15-minute call with CPI. We’ll evaluate your current crisis prevention programming to determine how we can help you utilize Utah Administrative Rule 277 to evaluate and improve your school district’s approach to ESI.
Step 2: Obtain a complimentary training program recommendation. We will design and recommend a training plan that will help you to utilize Utah Administrative Rule 277 effectively, keeping students and staff safe.
Step 3: Train your staff. Our Global Professional Instructors will train select staff to become Certified Instructors. Then your Certified Instructors train their colleagues. With CPI training, your staff will feel safer and more prepared to prevent and de-escalate behavior.
Start the conversation today:
Or call 877.877.5389
See how CPI training programs make it easy for all staff to gain perspective and de-escalation skills, regardless of role or risk level.
| Legal Requirements |
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Utah Administrative Rule 277 |
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§608-4 Emergency Safety Interventions (ESI) Training Requirements. This applies to all school employees who supervise students, or who may be asked to assist in managing a student’s behavior: |
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(1) Beginning with the 2025-26 school year, employees must receive foundational behavior support training, which shall include behavioral or emotional crisis management including de-escalation strategies. The Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® curriculum focuses on prevention by recognizing the early warning signs of potential crisis situations and equipping staff with nonverbal and verbal de-escalation skills. |
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(2) The training must be completed within two months of employment, or within 30 days if working directly with a student with disabilities, and on a bi-annual basis. CPI’s Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® program recommends that staff complete training after hire or at initial rollout and then offer renewal sessions every 6 to 12 months. Furthermore, CPI offers a variety of resources, tools, and services to support organizations in updating and enhancing their policies and procedures accordingly. |
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(3) In addition to foundational behavior support training, key identified school employees shall also receive comprehensive ESI training, (4) which shall include: Certified instructors with Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® (NCI™) With Advanced Physical Skills can train staff in Verbal Intervention™, Nonviolent Crisis Intervention®, and NCI™ With Advanced Physical Skills based on the needs of the staff. |
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(a) The appropriate, safe, and effective use of ESI; and CPI Certified Instructors, who are qualified to teach NCI™ With Advanced Physical Skills, are trained to appropriately respond to high-risk behaviors that may escalate a student's risk level, and to coach staff on implementing the least restrictive yet effective intervention needed to ensure safety. As with all physical skills, organizations and educational institutions have the discretion to customize the instruction of these techniques in accordance with their own policies and procedures. |
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(b) Documentation of ESI CPI recommends that each instance of violence be thoroughly documented as part of the post-incident review. Staff should assess each incident in accordance with CPI training principles to identify opportunities for adjusting intervention strategies at earlier stages of the crisis. |
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(5) The comprehensive ESI training must be completed before an employee is authorized to use an ESI with a student, and annually thereafter. CPI’s Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® and NCI™ With Advanced Physical Skills uses safety interventions to maximize safety and minimize harm in situations where behavior presents an imminent or immediate risk of harm to self or others. Both programs stress the goal is to use Safety Intervention that is a last resort, reasonable, and proportionate to the risk of the behavior. Most often this means considering verbal and environmental non-restrictive interventions first. |
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§608-2(4) “Emergency safety intervention” or “ESI” means the use of seclusionary time out or physical restraint when a student presents an immediate danger to self or others. An emergency safety intervention is not used for disciplinary purposes. CPI’s Nonviolent Crisis Intervention® training program addresses a myriad of intervention strategies to prevent or manage assaultive and disruptive behavior. While CPI does not speak directly to the use of seclusion within our curriculum, we do recognize that it is a strategy used in schools, where permitted, as part of a continuum of emergency interventions. |
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§R277-609-2(21) “School employee” means a school teacher, staff member, school administrator or any other person employed, directly or indirectly, by an LEA. |