NY State Senate Bill 2017-S4864

Senate Bill S4864

2017-2018 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 Education 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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	Assembly Actions - Lowercase Senate Actions - UPPERCASE
Mar 03, 2017	referred to education

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2017-S4864 (ACTIVE) - Details

See Assembly Version of this Bill:: A322
Current Committee:: Senate Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §2802, Ed L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2015-2016: S7024, A9799
2019-2020: S5346, A6815
2021-2022: S2196
2023-2024: S745

2017-S4864 (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.

2017-S4864 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S4864

 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 :

2016: S.7024- RECOMMITTED TO RULES/A.9799-referred to education
 FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None

 LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS :

None

 EFFECTIVE DATE :
Immediately

2017-S4864 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   4864
 
                        2017-2018 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                               March 3, 2017
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sens.  DIAZ,  COMRIE, HAMILTON -- read twice and ordered
   printed, and when printed to be committed to the Committee  on  Educa-
   tion
 
 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
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD06618-01-7

 S. 4864                             2
 
 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.
   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

 S. 4864                             3

 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
 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.
   § 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 S4864

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Sponsored By

Ruben Diaz