Bill Text: NY A09445 | 2023-2024 | 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; requires notice to be given to victims of harassment, bullying, or violent offenses of their right to transfer to another public school.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-14 - referred to education [A09445 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A09445-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          9445

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     March 14, 2024
                                       ___________

        Introduced by M. of A. TAYLOR -- 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-
    22  ing  system over a period prescribed in the regulations, which shall not
    23  be less than two  years,  reports  of  violent  incidents  and  criminal
    24  offenses  from  school  safety  agents  and  police officers, reports of

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD02707-01-3
        A. 9445                             2

     1  violent or harmful conduct by teachers and administrative staff, and any
     2  other data reasonably required by the commissioner related to safety.
     3    b.  Each  public elementary and secondary school designated as persis-
     4  tently dangerous pursuant to paragraph a of this subdivision  shall,  in
     5  the  subsequent  school  year,  submit  to  the commissioner an incident
     6  reduction plan detailing the steps the school will take to reduce  inci-
     7  dents  of  violence and disruption and remove the persistently dangerous
     8  designation by the following school year. Such plan shall include, at  a
     9  minimum, the prevention and intervention strategies recommended pursuant
    10  to  paragraph c of subdivision two of section twenty-eight hundred one-a
    11  of this article. Notwithstanding  any  provision  to  the  contrary,  an
    12  elementary or secondary school designated as persistently dangerous, and
    13  which  remains  on the persistently dangerous list for three consecutive
    14  years, shall be subject to closure on June thirtieth following the third
    15  consecutive year of such persistently dangerous designation except  that
    16  upon  a finding of good cause, the commissioner may grant such school up
    17  to two additional academic years to achieve results  that  would  remove
    18  the persistently dangerous designation.
    19    [b] c. Each local educational agency required to provide unsafe school
    20  choice  shall establish procedures for determinations by the superinten-
    21  dent of schools or other chief school officer of whether  a  student  is
    22  the  victim  of harassment, bullying, or a violent criminal offense that
    23  occurred on school grounds of the school that the student attends.  Such
    24  superintendent  of schools or other chief school officer shall, prior to
    25  making any such determination, consult with any law  enforcement  agency
    26  investigating  such  alleged  violent  criminal offense and consider any
    27  reports or records provided by such agency. The  trustees  or  board  of
    28  education  or  other  governing  board of a local educational agency may
    29  provide, by local rule or by-law, for appeal of the determination of the
    30  superintendent of schools to such governing board.  Notwithstanding  any
    31  other  provision of law to the contrary, the determination of such chief
    32  school officer pursuant to this  paragraph  shall  not  have  collateral
    33  estoppel  effect  in any student disciplinary proceeding brought against
    34  the alleged victim or perpetrator of such violent criminal offense.  For
    35  purposes  of  this  subdivision, "violent criminal offense" shall mean a
    36  crime that involved infliction of serious physical injury  upon  another
    37  as  defined  in  the  penal  law,  a  sex offense that involved forcible
    38  compulsion or any other offense defined in the penal law  that  involved
    39  the use or threatened use of a deadly weapon.
    40    [c]  d. Each local educational agency, as defined in subsection thirty
    41  of section eighty-one hundred one of the Elementary and Secondary Educa-
    42  tion Act of nineteen hundred sixty-five, as amended, that is required to
    43  provide school choice pursuant to section eighty-five hundred thirty-two
    44  of the Elementary  and  Secondary  Education  Act  of  nineteen  hundred
    45  sixty-five,  as  amended, shall establish procedures for notification of
    46  parents of, or persons  in  parental  relation  to,  students  attending
    47  schools  that have been designated as persistently dangerous and parents
    48  of, or persons in parental relation to,  students  who  are  victims  of
    49  harassment,  bullying,  or  violent  criminal offenses of their right to
    50  transfer to a safe public school within the [local  educational  agency]
    51  school  district  and procedures for such transfer[, except that nothing
    52  in this subdivision shall be  construed  to  require  such  notification
    53  where  there  are  no  other public schools within the local educational
    54  agency at the same grade level or such transfer to a safe public  school
    55  within  the  local  educational  agency  is  otherwise  impossible or to
    56  require a local educational agency that has only one public school with-
        A. 9445                             3

     1  in the local educational agency or only one public school at each  grade
     2  level to develop such procedures].  Such notification shall also include
     3  a  list  of designated safe public schools within the school district to
     4  which  the  student may transfer, to the extent practicable, be provided
     5  in the dominant language and mode of communication  of  parents  of,  or
     6  persons in parental relation to, such students, and be provided no later
     7  than  ten  days  after  such  school has been designated as persistently
     8  dangerous, or for students who are victims of harassment, bullying, or a
     9  violent criminal offense, within  twenty-four  hours  of  such  determi-
    10  nation.  If  there are no safe public schools within the school district
    11  at the same grade level, the notification of the right to transfer shall
    12  include an offer of assistance in pursuing options outside of the school
    13  district. The commissioner shall be authorized to adopt any  regulations
    14  deemed necessary to assure that local educational agencies implement the
    15  provisions of this subdivision.
    16    § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.