NY State Senate Bill 2021-S2196

Senate Bill S2196

2021-2022 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

download bill text pdf

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
Jan 05, 2022	referred to education
Jan 20, 2021	referred to education

2021-S2196 (ACTIVE) - Details

Current Committee:: Senate Education
Law Section:: Education Law
Laws Affected:: Amd §2802, Ed L
Versions Introduced in Other Legislative Sessions:: 2015-2016: S7024
2017-2018: S4864
2019-2020: S5346
2023-2024: S745

2021-S2196 (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.

2021-S2196 (ACTIVE) - Sponsor Memo

                                
 
BILL NUMBER: S2196

SPONSOR: SEPULVEDA
 
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 inci-
dent reduction plan detailing the steps the school will take to reduce
incidents of violence and disruption. The legislation is to 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 Commis-
sioner 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 persis-
tently 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, indi-
vidual students who are victims of bullying or harassment remain unpro-
tected 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 danger-
ous, and must expand, the right of transfer If a child's safety is
at-risk at his or her current school.

 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:

S.5346 of 2019-20; Referred to Education

S.4864 of 2017-18; Referred to Education

 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

 
LOCAL FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:

None

2021-S2196 (ACTIVE) - Bill Text download pdf

                            
 
                     S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   2196
 
                        2021-2022 Regular Sessions
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                             January 20, 2021
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by Sen. SEPULVEDA -- 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
 amended  by  section 8 of part YYY of chapter 59 of the laws of 2017, 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 eighty-five hundred thirty-two of the
 Elementary and Secondary Education Act of nineteen  hundred  sixty-five,
 as amended] 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-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.

                                                            LBD04511-01-1

 S. 2196                             2
 
 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.
   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 TWENTY-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.
   [b] 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 thirty
 of section eighty-one hundred one of the Elementary and Secondary Educa-
 tion Act of nineteen hundred sixty-five, as amended, that is required to
 provide school choice pursuant to section eighty-five hundred thirty-two
 of the Elementary  and  Secondary  Education  Act  of  nineteen  hundred
 sixty-five,  as  amended, shall establish procedures for notification of
 parents of, or persons  in  parental  relation  to,  students  attending
 schools  that have been designated 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 procedures 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

 S. 2196                             3

 agency at the same grade level or such transfer to a safe public  school
 within  the  local  educational  agency  is  otherwise  impossible or to
 require a local educational agency that has only one public school with-
 in  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  DETERMI-
 NATION.  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 necessary 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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