What's happening
Jacobe's law requires school employees to notify parents about verified incidents of harassment, bullying, or discrimination unless student safety or privacy is at risk.
Why it matters
Empowers parents and guardians to be directly informed about incidents involving their child. , potentially allowing them to intervene earlier and support their child emotionally or practically after verified harassment, bullying, or discrimination.
Requires school staff to actively involve students in deciding whether their parents should be contacted. , which acknowledges student agency and addresses possible risks to student safety or privacy—especially relevant for students in vulnerable situations (e.g., LGBTQ+ youth, students in abusive households).
Establishes clear documentation and professional discretion standards for school counselors and administrators. , creating an accountability trail and providing legal protection for staff who act in good faith, possibly reducing hesitation to report and address such incidents.
May result in increased communication and transparency between schools and families. , but also raises important questions about student confidentiality, mandatory reporting boundaries, and how schools balance parental rights with student well-being.
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Who cares
Headline styles
Require Parental Notice of Bullying
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
21 Co-sponsors
- Jake Ashby
- George Borrello
- Patricia Canzoneri-Fitzpatrick
- Stephen T. Chan
- Patrick M. Gallivan
- Joseph A. Griffo
- Pamela Helming
- Robert Jackson
- Andrew J. Lanza
- Jack M. Martins
- Mario Mattera
- Dean Murray
- Peter Oberacker
- Thomas F. O'Mara
- Robert Ortt
- Steve Rhoads
- Luis R. Sepúlveda
- Dan Stec
- Mark Walczyk
- William Weber
- Alexis Weik
History
- Reported and committed to codes
- Notice of committee consideration - requested
- 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.
Require Schools Inform Parents
In Assembly Committee · Education · Sponsor Mary Beth Walsh
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
16
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE (Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
Introduced by Sens. TEDISCO, ASHBY, BORRELLO, CANZONERI-FITZPATRICK, GALLIVAN, GRIFFO, HELMING, JACKSON, LANZA, MATTERA, MURRAY, OBERACKER, O'MARA, RHOADS, SEPULVEDA, WALCZYK, WEBER, WEIK -- 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 enacting "Jacobe's law"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "Jacobe's law".
§ 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 15-a to read as follows:
§ 15-a. Reporting by school employees. 1. School employees, as defined in subdivision four of this section, shall investigate and verify, in accordance with the provisions of this article, that a reported incident of harassment, bullying or discrimination has occurred.
2. Upon a verified incident of harassment, bullying or discrimination, a licensed or certified school counselor, school social worker, school psychologist, school nurse, principal or assistant principal shall discuss with each student involved in the incident whether the student has any health, safety or privacy concerns with the school employee making a reasonable and good faith effort to contact their parent or person in parental relation. Any discussions shall be immediately documented by such school counselor, school social worker, school psychologist, school nurse, principal or assistant principal.
3. If a student does not express a health, safety or privacy concern, the school employee shall make a reasonable and good faith effort to contact the parent or person in parental relation of the students involved in the incident by telephone, email, mail or other means to discuss the incident and ways to effectively address the situation. If a
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00115-01-5
student does express a health, safety or privacy concern, such school counselor, school social worker, school psychologist, school nurse, principal or assistant principal shall determine, using their professional judgement, if contacting a student's parent or person in parental relation would be in the best interest of the student.
4. As used in this section "school employee" shall mean the principal, superintendent or the principal's or superintendent's designee who is charged with receiving reports of harassment, bullying and discrimination in accordance with paragraph a of subdivision one of section thirteen of this article.
§ 3. Section 16 of the education law, as amended by chapter 102 of the laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:
§ 16. Protection of people who report harassment, bullying or discrimination. Any person having reasonable cause to suspect that a student has been subjected to harassment, bullying or discrimination, by an employee or student, on school grounds or at a school function, who, acting reasonably and in good faith, reports such information to school officials, to the commissioner or to law enforcement authorities, acts in compliance with paragraph e or i of subdivision one of section thirteen of this article or with section fifteen-a of this article, or otherwise initiates, testifies, participates or assists in any formal or informal proceedings under this article, shall have immunity from any civil liability that may arise from the making of such report or from initiating, testifying, participating or assisting in such formal or informal proceedings, and no school district or employee shall take, request or cause a retaliatory action against any such person who, acting reasonably and in good faith, either makes such a report or initiates, testifies, participates or assists in such formal or informal proceedings.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
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 enacting "Jacobe's law"
Purpose
To ensure a "reasonable and good faith effort" is made by school admin- istrators to notify parents or guardians when there is a verified inci- dent of harassment, bullying or discrimination in school.
Summary of provisions
Section 1 of the bill cites the act as Jacobe's Law.
Read the full memo (841 words)
Section 2 of the bill amends Education Law to require a school employee to investigate and verify that a reported incident of harassment, bully- ing or discrimination has occurred. Upon a verified incident of harass- ment, bullying or discrimination, a licensed or certified school counse- lor, social worker or psychologist must discuss with each student involved in the incident whether they have any health, safety or privacy concerns. Any discussions must be documented. If a student does not express a health, safety or privacy concern, then the school employee must make a reasonable and good faith effort to contact a student's parent or person in parental relation by telephone, mail, email or other means to discuss the incident and ways to effectively address the situ- ation. If a student does express a health, safety or privacy concern, then school counselor, social worker or psychologist shall determine, using their professional judgment, if contacting a student's parent or person in parental relation would be in the best interest of the student.
Section 3 of the bill amends Section 16 of the education law, as amended by chapter 102 of the laws of 2012
Section 4 of the bill provides the effective date.
Justification
In April 2015, 13-year-old Jacobe Taras tragically took his own life after having been subjected to bullying and harassing behavior. Sadly, this tragedy is not an isolated incident as bullying continues to nega- tively impact hundreds of thousands of students on a daily basis in schools across New York State and throughout our nation.
As noted on the American Society for the Positive Care of Children's (SPCC) website, approximately 28 percent of students ages 12-18 reported being bullied at school during the school year, according to the Indica- tors of School Crime and Safety: 2013 report, by the Bureau of Justice Statistics and National Center for Education Statistics Institute of Education Sciences. The majority of bullying still takes place at school and 1-in-3 U.S. students say they have been bullied at school, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. Furthermore, as indi- cated On the American SPCC's website, it was reported in the CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance 2013 report, that, on average across 39 states surveyed; 7.2 percent of students admitted to not going to school due to personal safety concerns. Many dread the physical and verbal aggression of their peers and many more attend school in a chronic state of anxiety and depression. It was further reported on the American SPCC website that 70.6 percent of young people say they have seen bullying in their schools. In addition, according to findings from the United States Department of Justice, 160,000 kids per day do not attend school for fear of being bullied.
Bullying can result in reluctance to go to school, while truancy, head- aches and stomach pains, reduced appetite, shame, anxiety, irritability, aggression and depression are also frequent effects, as stated on the American SPCC website. Without question, there must be a continued, coordinated, holistic emphasis on preventing, identifying and stopping bullying behavior to prevent future tragedies. Comprehensive bullying prevention will better protect children and ensure every student can learn in an environment that is safe and secure from bullying and any form of harassing or threatening behavior.
While the "Dignity for All Students Act" was signed into law in 2010 to establish and streamline the protocol schools must follow when it comes to bullying and harassment, parental notification provisions must be strengthened. "Jacobe's Law" would require schools to make a reasonable and good faith effort to notify a parent or guardian of a child who reports to school officials that they fear the y are a target of bullies or situations where school officials suspect bullying is taking place, and potentially avert future tragedies.
Legislative history
06/19/17: S.1355B PASSED SENATE 06/19/17: S.1355B DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY 06/19/17: S.1355B REFERRED TO EDUCATION 01/03/18: S.1355B DIED IN ASSEM- BLY 01/03/18: S.1355B RETURNED TO SENATE 01/03/18: S.1355B REFERRED TO EDUCATION 02/28/18: S.1355B COMMITTEE DISCHARGED AND COMMITTED TO RULES 02/28/18: S.1355B ORDERED TO THIRD READING CAL. 534 02/28/18: S.1355B PASSED SENATE 02/28/18: S.1355B DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY 06/15/18: S.9074 REFERRED TO RULES 06/15/18: S.9074 AMEND AND RECOMMIT TO RULES 06/15/18: S.9074 PRINT NUMBER 9074A 06/19/18: S.9074 A ORDERED TO THIRD READING CAL.1993 06/19/18: S.9074 A PASSED SENATE 06/19/18: S.9074A DELIVERED TO ASSEMBLY 06/19/18: S.9074A REFERRED TO CODES 01/09/19: S.768 REFERRED TO EDUCATION 01/08/20: S.768 REFERRED TO EDUCA- TION 01/06/21: S.216 REFERRED TO EDUCATION 01/05/22: 5.216 REFERRED TO EDUCATION 01/04/23: S.44R REFERRED TO EDUCATION 01/03/24: S.44R REFERRED TO EDUCATION
Fiscal implications
None to the State
Effective date
This act shall take effect immediately.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.