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A05371 Summary:

A05371 Memo:

NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY
MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION
 submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)



 
BILL NUMBER: A5371
 
SPONSOR: Thiele (MS)

 
TITLE OF BILL:  An act to amend the education law, in relation to
requiring school administrators in private schools to report allegations
of child abuse in an educational setting
 
 
PURPOSE:
 
To require school administrators in private schools to report allega-
tions of child abuse in an educational setting.
 
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
 
Article 23-B requires, among other things, public school principals to
forward reports of child abuse committed by school employees or volun-
teers to "appropriate law enforcement authorities". It also forbids
public school authorities' agreeing to withhold from law enforcement the
fact that an allegation of child abuse has been made against a school
employee or volunteer in exchange for the accused person's resignation
or voluntary suspension. This legislation would include private schools
in the aforementioned Article 23-B.
 
 
JUSTIFICATION:
 
The absence of private schools from the requirements of Article 23-B is
a serious gap in the legislative scheme of protection for the hundreds
of thousands of children who attend these schools in New York State.
Accounts of students being sexually abused by faculty in private school
settings are all too common. Often, the administration's response was to
protect the institutional reputation of the school at the expense of the
ongoing safety of its students.  In many instances, the faculty respon-
sible for the abuse was neither terminated nor disciplined, and was
permitted to remain on staff with the result that additional students
were victimized. This legislation would require the private school
administrators to report this alleged abuse, thereby, protecting their
students.
 
 
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
 
2016: A.10508
 
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
 
To be determined.
 
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on the thirtieth day after it shall have
become a law.