What's happening
This bill requires persistently dangerous schools to submit incident reduction plans and strengthens students' rights to transfer and receive notification after harassment, bullying, or violent offenses.
Why it matters
Expands the definition of students eligible for transfer. by including victims of harassment and bullying, not just violent criminal offenses, thus broadening protections for students experiencing non-physical forms of harm.
Mandates comprehensive data collection. for determining “persistently dangerous” school status, requiring input not only from incident reports but also from law enforcement, school safety agents, and staff reports, which could lead to more accurate identification and intervention in unsafe schools.
Requires schools labeled persistently dangerous to develop and submit detailed incident reduction plans. if they remain on the list for three consecutive years, they face mandatory closure unless granted a short extension, creating strong incentives for schools to actively address safety issues.
Strengthens notification and transfer rights for affected students and families. by requiring prompt, accessible communication (including in the family’s primary language) about transfer options and support, ensuring that parents are informed quickly and can act to protect their children.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Require School Safety Plans
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
Senator · Senate District 32
No co-sponsors yet.
History
- Referred to education
- Referred to education
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Schools Must Reduce Violence
In Assembly Committee · Education · Sponsor Karines Reyes
Full text
3 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
5346
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE
April 26, 2019
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 Assembly, 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 representative 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.
LBD10458-01-9
S. 5346 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 persistently 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 incidents 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 superintendent 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 Education 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. 5346 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 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 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.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Sponsor's memo
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
2017-2018- A0322 - Died in Education Committee 2016- A. 9799 - Died in Education Committee; 57024- on 3rd Reading in the Senate
Fiscal implications
None
Local fiscal implications
None
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.