Enacts the "public schools emergency alert act"; requires the chancellor of a city school district in a city with a population of one million or more to implement an emergency alert notification system in order to notify and advise parents or persons in parental relation, faculty, staff and elected representatives of incidents posing a threat to the health or safety of such persons.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A1245A
SPONSOR: Lancman (MS) TITLE OF BILL: An act to amend the education law, in relation to
enacting the "public schools emergency alert act"
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF THE BILL:
This bill would require New York City to establish an emergency alert
notification system at each of its public schools using a combination of
text messages, emails and phone calls in order to provide staff, parents
and the community notification and instructions in emergency situations
occurring within public school buildings. The cost to establish such a
system is minimal, particularly insofar as New York City has the poten-
tial to plug into the existing NY-Alert system run by the New York State
Emergency Management Office.
SUMMARY OF SPECIFIC PROVISIONS:
Adds section 409-j to the Education Law, requiring New York City to
establish an emergency alert notification system at each of its public
schools, pursuant to regulations promulgated by the Chancellor, using a
combination of text messages, emails and phone calls in order to provide
staff, parents and members of the community who choose to receive such
alerts notification and instructions in emergency situations occurring
within public school buildings. Participation by staff, parents and
community residents is voluntary.
JUSTIFICATION:
It is essential that parents, staff and the community be given notice
and instructions in the event of an emergency in our public schools.
Text message, email and phone based emergency notification systems have
proved critical in containing emergencies and preserving public safety.
The campus massacre at Virginia Tech, where students walked about the
campus unaware that a fellow student was walking around on a shooting
spree, proved that a dependable system for disseminating information
efficiently during on-campus emergencies is necessary to protect
students, faculty and staff during incidents which pose a threat to
their safety and health. St. John's University recently successfully
deployed a text message based alert system to alert and instruct
students, faculty and staff when a gunman was discovered on the univer-
sity's Queens campus. Almost every SUNY and CUNY campus has or is imple-
menting an emergency alert notification system. New York State's NY-A-
lert program has over one million enrollees. New York City is conducting
a pilot community alert system (Notify NYC) in four neighborhoods.
The lack of such a system for New York City public schools caused
parents tremendous anxiety recently when three public schools on a
shared campus in Glen Oaks, Queens, were "locked down" after a threaten-
ing letter was discovered on campus. Parents arrived to pick up their
children to discover the lockdown and had little or no information on
what was happening. Parents waiting for their children to arrive home or
at bus stops had no idea where their children were. Thankfully, the
emergency turned out to be a hoax, but the anxiety which parents
suffered was real. Had it not been a hoax, parents and the community
could have been at risk for lack of information and instructions.
LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
Passed Assembly in 2008.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
Minimal. The software and administrative support necessary to establish
and maintain an emergency alert notification system is relatively inex-
pensive, particularly for an organization as large as the New York City
Department of Education, and in any event the Department has the poten-
tial to piggy-back onto the existing NY-Alert system run by the State
Emergency Management Office or the Notify NYC emergency alert system
currently being tested by the New York City Office of Emergency Manage-
ment.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
Immediately, although New York City is given until the start of the
2009-2010 school year to have the system up and running.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1245--A
Cal. No. 83
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 7, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. LANCMAN, NOLAN, WEPRIN, ALFANO, GREENE, BENEDET-
TO, MAISEL, PERRY -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A. CLARK -- read once
and referred to the Committee on Education -- reported from committee,
advanced to a third reading, amended and ordered reprinted, retaining
its place on the order of third reading
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting the "public
schools emergency alert act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as the "public
2 schools emergency alert act".
3 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 409-j to
4 read as follows:
5 § 409-j. Emergency alert notification system in public schools; cities
6 with a population of one million or more. On or before January first,
7 two thousand ten, a city school district located in a city of one
8 million or more inhabitants shall, pursuant to rules and regulations
9 promulgated by the chancellor of such city school district and consist-
10 ent with section twenty-eight hundred one-a of this chapter, implement
11 an emergency alert notification system to convey timely information
12 concerning emergency incidents or occurrences, as defined by such chan-
13 cellor, that pose an imminent threat to the health or safety of a
14 substantial number of students, faculty and staff at a particular educa-
15 tional facility or program. Such emergency alert notification system
16 shall employ a variety of communication methods including the automated
17 delivery of text messages, phone calls and/or electronic mail and shall
18 notify and advise parents or persons in parental relation, faculty,
19 staff, and elected representatives, who volunteer to receive emergency
20 alert notifications.
21 § 3. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01058-02-9
