Bill Text: NY A06815 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: 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.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-2)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to education [A06815 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A06815-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________
                                          6815
                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions
                   IN ASSEMBLY
                                     March 20, 2019
                                       ___________
        Introduced  by M. of A. REYES -- read once and referred 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:
     1    Section  1.  Subdivision  7  of  section 2802 of the education law, as
     2  amended by section 8 of part YYY of chapter 59 of the laws of  2017,  is
     3  amended to read as follows:
     4    7.  Notwithstanding any other provision of state or local law, rule or
     5  regulation to the contrary,  any  student  who  attends  a  persistently
     6  dangerous  public  elementary  or secondary school, as determined by the
     7  commissioner pursuant to paragraph a of this subdivision, or  who  is  a
     8  victim  of  harassment  or  bullying, as defined pursuant to subdivision
     9  seven of section eleven of this chapter, or a violent criminal  offense,
    10  as  defined  pursuant  to  paragraph  [b]  c  of  this subdivision, that
    11  occurred on the grounds of a public elementary or secondary school  that
    12  the  student  attends,  shall  [be  allowed to attend] have the right to
    13  transfer to a safe public school within the [local educational agency to
    14  the extent required by section eighty-five  hundred  thirty-two  of  the
    15  Elementary  and  Secondary Education Act of nineteen hundred sixty-five,
    16  as amended] school district.
    17    a. The commissioner shall annually determine which  public  elementary
    18  and  secondary  schools  are  persistently  dangerous in accordance with
    19  regulations of the commissioner developed in consultation with a  repre-
    20  sentative sample of local educational agencies. Such determination shall
    21  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.
                                                                   LBD10458-01-9
        A. 6815                             2
     1  ing system over a period prescribed in the regulations, which shall  not
     2  be  less  than  two  years,  reports  of  violent incidents and criminal
     3  offenses from school safety  agents  and  police  officers,  reports  of
     4  violent or harmful conduct by teachers and administrative staff, and any
     5  other data reasonably required by the commissioner related to safety.
     6    b.  Each  public elementary and secondary school designated as persis-
     7  tently dangerous pursuant to paragraph a of this subdivision  shall,  in
     8  the  subsequent  school  year,  submit  to  the commissioner an incident
     9  reduction plan detailing the steps the school will take to reduce  inci-
    10  dents  of  violence and disruption and remove the persistently dangerous
    11  designation by the following school year. Such plan shall include, at  a
    12  minimum, the prevention and intervention strategies recommended pursuant
    13  to  paragraph c of subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred one-a
    14  of this article. Notwithstanding  any  provision  to  the  contrary,  an
    15  elementary or secondary school designated as persistently dangerous, and
    16  which  remains  on the persistently dangerous list for three consecutive
    17  years, shall be subject to closure on June thirtieth following the third
    18  consecutive year of such persistently dangerous designation except  that
    19  upon  a finding of good cause, the commissioner may grant such school up
    20  to two additional academic years to achieve results  that  would  remove
    21  the persistently dangerous designation.
    22    [b] c. Each local educational agency required to provide unsafe school
    23  choice  shall establish procedures for determinations by the superinten-
    24  dent of schools or other chief school officer of whether  a  student  is
    25  the  victim  of harassment, bullying, or a violent criminal offense that
    26  occurred on school grounds of the school that the student attends.  Such
    27  superintendent  of schools or other chief school officer shall, prior to
    28  making any such determination, consult with any law  enforcement  agency
    29  investigating  such  alleged  violent  criminal offense and consider any
    30  reports or records provided by such agency. The  trustees  or  board  of
    31  education  or  other  governing  board of a local educational agency may
    32  provide, by local rule or by-law, for appeal of the determination of the
    33  superintendent of schools to such governing board.  Notwithstanding  any
    34  other  provision of law to the contrary, the determination of such chief
    35  school officer pursuant to this  paragraph  shall  not  have  collateral
    36  estoppel  effect  in any student disciplinary proceeding brought against
    37  the alleged victim or perpetrator of such violent criminal offense.  For
    38  purposes  of  this  subdivision, "violent criminal offense" shall mean a
    39  crime that involved infliction of serious physical injury  upon  another
    40  as  defined  in  the  penal  law,  a  sex offense that involved forcible
    41  compulsion or any other offense defined in the penal law  that  involved
    42  the use or threatened use of a deadly weapon.
    43    [c]  d. Each local educational agency, as defined in subsection thirty
    44  of section eighty-one hundred one of the Elementary and Secondary Educa-
    45  tion Act of nineteen hundred sixty-five, as amended, that is required to
    46  provide school choice pursuant to section eighty-five hundred thirty-two
    47  of the Elementary  and  Secondary  Education  Act  of  nineteen  hundred
    48  sixty-five,  as  amended, shall establish procedures for notification of
    49  parents of, or persons  in  parental  relation  to,  students  attending
    50  schools  that have been designated as persistently dangerous and parents
    51  of, or persons in parental relation to,  students  who  are  victims  of
    52  harassment,  bullying,  or  violent  criminal offenses of their right to
    53  transfer to a safe public school within the [local  educational  agency]
    54  school  district  and procedures for such transfer[, except that nothing
    55  in this subdivision shall be  construed  to  require  such  notification
    56  where  there  are  no  other public schools within the local educational
        A. 6815                             3

     1  agency at the same grade level or such transfer to a safe public  school
     2  within  the  local  educational  agency  is  otherwise  impossible or to
     3  require a local educational agency that has only one public school with-
     4  in  the local educational agency or only one public school at each grade
     5  level to develop such procedures].  Such notification shall also include
     6  a list of designated safe public schools within the school  district  to
     7  which  the  student may transfer, to the extent practicable, be provided
     8  in the dominant language and mode of communication  of  parents  of,  or
     9  persons in parental relation to, such students, and be provided no later
    10  than  ten  days  after  such  school has been designated as persistently
    11  dangerous, or for students who are victims of harassment, bullying, or a
    12  violent criminal offense, within  twenty-four  hours  of  such  determi-
    13  nation.  If  there are no safe public schools within the school district
    14  at the same grade level, the notification of the right to transfer shall
    15  include an offer of assistance in pursuing options outside of the school
    16  district. The commissioner shall be authorized to adopt any  regulations
    17  deemed necessary to assure that local educational agencies implement the
    18  provisions of this subdivision.
    19    §  2.  This act shall take effect immediately, provided, however, that
    20  the amendments to subdivision 7 of section 2802  of  the  education  law
    21  made  by  section  one  of  this act shall not affect the repeal of such
    22  subdivision and shall be deemed repealed therewith.