NY State Senate Bill 2015-S7024

Senate Bill S7024

2015-2016 Legislative Session

Requires persistently dangerous schools to file an incident reduction plan detailing the steps the school will take to reduce incidents of violence and disruption

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Archive: Last Bill Status - In Senate Committee Rules Committee

Introduced
- In Committee Assembly
- In Committee Senate
- On Floor Calendar Assembly
- On Floor Calendar Senate
- Passed Assembly
- Passed Senate
Delivered to Governor
Signed By Governor

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Actions

View Actions

	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Jun 17, 2016	recommitted to rules
Jun 01, 2016	ordered to third reading cal.1269 committee discharged and committed to rules
Mar 17, 2016	referred to education

Votes

- Jun 1, 2016 - Rules Committee Vote
  S7024
  
  24
  
  Aye
  
  1
  
  Nay
  
  0
  
  Aye with Reservations
  
  0
  
  Absent
  
  0
  
  Excused
  
  0
  
  Abstained
  - - Rules Committee Vote: Jun 1, 2016
      
      aye (24)
      
      Bonacic
      
      Breslin
      
      Carlucci
      
      DeFrancisco
      
      Dilan
      
      Espaillat
      
      Farley
      
      Flanagan
      
      Gianaris
      
      Hannon
      
      Hassell-Thompson
      
      LaValle
      
      Lanza
      
      Larkin
      
      Little
      
      Marcellino
      
      Montgomery
      
      Nozzolio
      
      Parker
      
      Perkins
      
      Robach
      
      Seward
      
      Stewart-Cousins
      
      Valesky
      
      nay (1)
      
      Krueger

co-Sponsors

2015-S7024 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A9799
Current Committee:: Senate Rules
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §2802, Ed L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2017-2018: S4864, A322
2019-2020: S5346, A6815
2021-2022: S2196
2023-2024: S745

2015-S7024 (ACTIVE) - Summary

Requires persistently dangerous schools to file an incident reduction plan detailing the steps the school will take to reduce incidents of violence and disruption and requires notice to be given to victims of harassment, bullying, or violent offenses of their right to transfer to another public school.

2015-S7024 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S7024

 TITLE OF BILL :  An act to amend the education law, in relation to
requiring persistently dangerous schools to file an incident reduction
plan detailing the steps the school will take to reduce incidents of
violence and disruption and requiring notice to be given to victims of
harassment, bullying, or violent offenses of their right to transfer
to another public school

 PURPOSE :

This bill will require persistently dangerous schools to file an
incident reduction plan detailing the steps the school will take to
reduce incidents of violence and disruption. o Improve Safety in
Public Schools

 SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS :

Implement accountability and transparency by requiring persistently
dangerous schools to submit to accountability reporting, through a
State Violence Reporting System which would include oversight by the
Commissioner of the NYS Education Department,

Close schools that are unable to maintain a safe school environment
for 3 consecutive years.

Expand the right to safety transfer for all victims of bullying or
harassment.

Ensure sufficient notice of safety transfer rights to families.

 EXISTING LAW :

There is no existing law that permits families the right to a safety
transfer for their children who have been bullied or harassed in
persistently dangerous schools.

 JUSTIFICATION :

New York City's public schools are profoundly unsafe. The New York
State Education Department (NYSED) reported that 2015 was the most
violent year on record for the district, with 93% of public school
students attending a school in which there was at least one violent
incident, including assault, arson, sex offenses, and weapons
possession. In the five months since the start of the 2015-16 school
year, 42 weapons have been confiscated from 36 elementary schools
across the city.

While federal and state laws require the State to create an annual
list of "persistently dangerous" schools, the law does nothing to hold
these schools accountable for improving safety. Moreover, while
students who attend these schools have the right to transfer to a safe
school, most families are not even aware that such a right exists
because of the City's wholly insufficient notice practices as allowed
under the law. Additionally, outside of these "persistently dangerous"
schools, individual students who are victims of bullying or harassment
remain unprotected by this right to transfer.

The safety of children cannot wait. New York must take immediate steps
to improve accountability of schools designated as persistently
dangerous, and must expand the right of transfer if a child's safety
is at risk at his or her current school.

 LEGISLATIVE HISTORY :

None
 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately

2015-S7024 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
                    S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
________________________________________________________________________

                                  7024

                            I N  S E N A T E

                             March 17, 2016
                               ___________

Introduced  by  Sen.  DIAZ  --  read twice and ordered printed, and when
  printed to be committed to the Committee on Education

AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to requiring persistently
  dangerous schools to file an incident  reduction  plan  detailing  the
  steps  the  school  will  take  to  reduce  incidents  of violence and
  disruption and requiring notice to be given to victims of  harassment,
  bullying,  or  violent  offenses of their right to transfer to another
  public school

  THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  Section  1.  Subdivision  7  of  section 2802 of the education law, as
added by chapter 425 of the laws of 2002, is amended to read as follows:
  7. Notwithstanding any other provision of state or local law, rule  or
regulation  to  the  contrary,  any  student  who attends a persistently
dangerous public elementary or secondary school, as  determined  by  the
commissioner  pursuant  to  paragraph a of this subdivision, or who is a
victim of HARASSMENT OR BULLYING, AS  DEFINED  PURSUANT  TO  SUBDIVISION
SEVEN  OF SECTION ELEVEN OF THIS CHAPTER, OR a violent criminal offense,
as defined pursuant  to  paragraph  [b]  C  of  this  subdivision,  that
occurred  on the grounds of a public elementary or secondary school that
the student attends, shall [be allowed to  attend]  HAVE  THE  RIGHT  TO
TRANSFER TO a safe public school within the [local educational agency to
the  extent required by section ninety-five hundred thirty-two of the No
Child Left Behind Act of 2001] SCHOOL DISTRICT.
  a. The commissioner shall annually determine which  public  elementary
and  secondary  schools  are  persistently  dangerous in accordance with
regulations of the commissioner developed in consultation with a  repre-
sentative sample of local educational agencies. Such determination shall
be  based on data submitted through the uniform violent incident report-
ing system over a period prescribed in the regulations, which shall  not
be  less  than  two  years,  REPORTS  OF  VIOLENT INCIDENTS AND CRIMINAL
OFFENSES FROM SCHOOL SAFETY  AGENTS  AND  POLICE  OFFICERS,  REPORTS  OF
VIOLENT OR HARMFUL CONDUCT BY TEACHERS AND ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF, AND ANY
OTHER DATA REASONABLY REQUIRED BY THE COMMISSIONER RELATED TO SAFETY.

 EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                      [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                           LBD14721-01-6

S. 7024                             2

  b.  EACH  PUBLIC ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL DESIGNATED AS PERSIS-
TENTLY DANGEROUS PURSUANT TO PARAGRAPH A OF THIS SUBDIVISION  SHALL,  IN
THE  SUBSEQUENT  SCHOOL  YEAR,  SUBMIT  TO  THE COMMISSIONER AN INCIDENT
REDUCTION PLAN DETAILING THE STEPS THE SCHOOL WILL TAKE TO REDUCE  INCI-
DENTS  OF  VIOLENCE AND DISRUPTION AND REMOVE THE PERSISTENTLY DANGEROUS
DESIGNATION BY THE FOLLOWING SCHOOL YEAR. SUCH PLAN SHALL INCLUDE, AT  A
MINIMUM, THE PREVENTION AND INTERVENTION STRATEGIES RECOMMENDED PURSUANT
TO  PARAGRAPH C OF SUBDIVISION TWO OF SECTION TWO THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED
ONE-A OF THIS ARTICLE. NOTWITHSTANDING ANY PROVISION TO THE CONTRARY, AN
ELEMENTARY OR SECONDARY SCHOOL DESIGNATED AS PERSISTENTLY DANGEROUS, AND
WHICH REMAINS ON THE PERSISTENTLY DANGEROUS LIST FOR  THREE  CONSECUTIVE
YEARS, SHALL BE SUBJECT TO CLOSURE ON JUNE THIRTIETH FOLLOWING THE THIRD
CONSECUTIVE  YEAR OF SUCH PERSISTENTLY DANGEROUS DESIGNATION EXCEPT THAT
UPON A FINDING OF GOOD CAUSE, THE COMMISSIONER MAY GRANT SUCH SCHOOL  UP
TO  TWO  ADDITIONAL  ACADEMIC YEARS TO ACHIEVE RESULTS THAT WOULD REMOVE
THE PERSISTENTLY DANGEROUS DESIGNATION.
  C. Each local educational agency required  to  provide  unsafe  school
choice  shall establish procedures for determinations by the superinten-
dent of schools or other chief school officer of whether  a  student  is
the  victim  of HARASSMENT, BULLYING, OR a violent criminal offense that
occurred on school grounds of the school that the student attends.  Such
superintendent  of schools or other chief school officer shall, prior to
making any such determination, consult with any law  enforcement  agency
investigating  such  alleged  violent  criminal offense and consider any
reports or records provided by such agency. The  trustees  or  board  of
education  or  other  governing  board of a local educational agency may
provide, by local rule or by-law, for appeal of the determination of the
superintendent of schools to such governing board.  Notwithstanding  any
other  provision of law to the contrary, the determination of such chief
school officer pursuant to this  paragraph  shall  not  have  collateral
estoppel  effect  in any student disciplinary proceeding brought against
the alleged victim or perpetrator of such violent criminal offense.  For
purposes  of  this  subdivision, "violent criminal offense" shall mean a
crime that involved infliction of serious physical injury  upon  another
as  defined  in  the  penal  law,  a  sex offense that involved forcible
compulsion or any other offense defined in the penal law  that  involved
the use or threatened use of a deadly weapon.
  [c.]  D. Each local educational agency, as defined in subsection twen-
ty-six of section ninety-one hundred one of the No Child Left Behind Act
of 2001, that is required to provide school choice pursuant  to  section
ninety-five  hundred  thirty-two of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001
shall establish procedures for notification of parents of, or persons in
parental relation to, students attending schools that have  been  desig-
nated  as  persistently dangerous and parents of, or persons in parental
relation to, students  who  are  victims  of  HARASSMENT,  BULLYING,  OR
violent  criminal  offenses  of their right to transfer to a safe public
school within the [local educational agency] SCHOOL DISTRICT and  proce-
dures  for such transfer[, except that nothing in this subdivision shall
be construed to require such  notification  where  there  are  no  other
public  schools  within  the  local educational agency at the same grade
level or such transfer to a safe public school within the  local  educa-
tional  agency is otherwise impossible or to require a local educational
agency that has only one public  school  within  the  local  educational
agency  or  only  one  public school at each grade level to develop such
procedures].  SUCH NOTIFICATION SHALL ALSO INCLUDE A LIST OF  DESIGNATED
SAFE  PUBLIC SCHOOLS WITHIN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT TO WHICH THE STUDENT MAY

S. 7024                             3

TRANSFER, TO  THE  EXTENT  PRACTICABLE,  BE  PROVIDED  IN  THE  DOMINANT
LANGUAGE AND MODE OF COMMUNICATION OF PARENTS OF, OR PERSONS IN PARENTAL
RELATION TO, SUCH STUDENTS, AND BE PROVIDED NO LATER THAN TEN DAYS AFTER
SUCH  SCHOOL  HAS  BEEN  DESIGNATED  AS  PERSISTENTLY  DANGEROUS, OR FOR
STUDENTS WHO ARE VICTIMS OF HARASSMENT, BULLYING, OR A VIOLENT  CRIMINAL
OFFENSE, WITHIN TWENTY-FOUR HOURS OF SUCH DETERMINATION. IF THERE ARE NO
SAFE  PUBLIC SCHOOLS WITHIN THE SCHOOL DISTRICT AT THE SAME GRADE LEVEL,
THE NOTIFICATION OF THE RIGHT TO TRANSFER  SHALL  INCLUDE  AN  OFFER  OF
ASSISTANCE  IN  PURSUING  OPTIONS  OUTSIDE  OF  THE SCHOOL DISTRICT. The
commissioner shall be authorized to adopt any regulations deemed  neces-
sary  to assure that local educational agencies implement the provisions
of this subdivision.
  S 2. This act shall take effect immediately, provided,  however,  that
the  amendments  to  subdivision  7 of section 2802 of the education law
made by section one of this act shall not  affect  the  repeal  of  such
subdivision and shall be deemed repealed therewith.

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Senate Bill S7024

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Ruben Diaz