§ 4358. Protection of pupils. The department shall:

(a) Promulgate regulations concerning standards for the protection of
children in residential care from reportable incidents in accordance
with this section and article eleven of the social services law,
including procedures for:

(i) consistent with appropriate collective bargaining agreements and
applicable provisions of the civil service law, the review and
evaluation of the backgrounds of and the information supplied by any
person applying to be an employee, a volunteer or consultant, which
shall include but not be limited to the following requirements: that the
applicant set forth his or her employment history, provide personal and
employment references and relevant experiential and educational
information, and sign a sworn statement indicating whether the
applicant, to the best of his or her knowledge, has ever been convicted
of a crime in this state or any other jurisdiction;

(ii) establishing, for employees, relevant minimal experiential and
educational qualifications, consistent with appropriate collective
bargaining agreements and applicable provisions of the civil service
law;

(iii) assuring adequate and appropriate supervision of employees,
volunteers and consultants;

(iv) demonstrating by a residential facility or program that
appropriate action is taken to assure the safety of the child who is
alleged to have been subjected to a reportable incident in a report to
the vulnerable persons' central register in accordance with section four
hundred ninety-two of the social services law as well as other children
in care, immediately upon notification that such a report of an
allegation of a reportable incident has been made;

(v) removing a child when it is determined that there is risk to such
child if he or she continues to remain within a facility or program; and

(vi) appropriate preventive and remedial action to be taken including
legal actions, consistent with appropriate collective bargaining
agreements and applicable provisions of the civil service law.

Such standards shall also establish as a priority requirements that:
(A) subject to the amounts appropriated therefor, administrators,
employees, volunteers and consultants receive training in at least the
following: child abuse prevention and identification, safety and
security procedures, the principles of child development, the
characteristics of children in care and techniques of group and child
management including crisis intervention, the laws, regulations and
procedures governing the protection of children from reportable
incidents, and other appropriate topics, provided however, that the
department may exempt administrators and consultants from such
requirements upon demonstration of substantially equivalent knowledge or
experience; and

(B) subject to the amounts appropriated therefor, children receive
instruction, consistent with their age, needs and circumstances as well
as the needs and circumstances of the facility, in techniques and
procedures which will enable such children to protect themselves from
reportable incidents.

The department shall take all reasonable and necessary actions to
assure that employees, volunteers and consultants in residential
facilities and programs are kept apprised on a current basis of all
department policies and procedures relating to the protection of
children from reportable incidents and shall monitor and supervise the
provision of training to such administrators, employees, volunteers,
children and consultants. Regulations and standards developed pursuant
to this section shall, to the extent possible, be consistent with those
promulgated by other state agencies for such purposes;

(vii) consistent with applicable collective bargaining agreements,
assuring that an individual who has committed a category one offense, as
defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision four of section four hundred
ninety-three of the social services law, that is included on the
vulnerable persons' central register is not hired or otherwise used in
any position in which such individual would have regular and substantial
contact with a service recipient in any program described in paragraph
(e) of subdivision four of section four hundred eighty-eight of the
social services law.

(b) Provide for the development and implementation of a plan of
prevention and remediation with respect to a substantiated report of
abuse or neglect. Such action shall include: (i) within ten days of
receipt of such a substantiated report, development and implementation
of a plan of prevention and remediation to be taken with respect to a
custodian or the residential facility in order to assure the continued
health and safety of children and to provide for the prevention of
future acts constituting reportable incidents; and (ii) development and
implementation of a plan of prevention and remediation, in the event an
investigation of a report of an allegation of abuse or neglect
determines that a preponderance of the evidence of such allegation
exists and such substantiated allegation may be attributed in whole or
in part to noncompliance by the residential facility or program with
provisions of this chapter or regulations of the department applicable
to the operation of such residential facility or program. Any plan of
prevention and remediation required to be developed pursuant to this
subdivision by a facility supervised by the department shall be
submitted to and approved by the department in accordance with time
limits established by regulations of the department. Implementation of
the plan shall be monitored by the department. In reviewing the
continued qualifications of a residential facility or program for an
operating certificate, the department shall evaluate such facility's
compliance with plans of prevention and remediation developed and
implemented pursuant to this subdivision.