Enacts "parent and pupil rights act" whereby all instructional material used in connection with any "psychiatric or psychological research or experimentation program or project", as defined, in elementary or secondary school, shall be available for inspection by parents or guardians of the affected children; also prohibits such programs or projects having the purpose of revealing political affiliations, religious beliefs and practices, sex behavior and attitudes, and other listed privileged information.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
1163
2009-2010 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY(Prefiled)
January 7, 2009
___________
Introduced by M. of A. SEMINERIO -- read once and referred to the
Committee on Education
AN ACT to amend the civil rights law, in relation to creating the parent
and pupil rights act
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The civil rights law is amended by adding a new section 85
2 to read as follows:
3 § 85. Parent and pupil rights act. 1. For purposes of this section,
4 the following terms shall have the following meanings:
5 (a) "Children" means persons not above age twenty-one who are enrolled
6 in a program not above the elementary or secondary education level.
7 (b) "Prior consent" means:
8 (i) Prior consent of the student, if the student is an adult or eman-
9 cipated minor; or
10 (ii) Prior written consent of the parent or guardian, if the student
11 is an unemancipated minor.
12 (c) "Psychiatric or psychological examination or test" means a method
13 of obtaining information, including a group activity, that is designed
14 to elicit information about attitudes, habits, traits, opinions, beliefs
15 or feelings.
16 (d) "Psychiatric or psychological treatment" means an activity involv-
17 ing the planned, systematic use of methods or techniques designed to
18 affect behavioral, emotional, or attitudinal characteristics of an indi-
19 vidual or group.
20 (e) "Psychiatric or psychological research or experimentation program
21 or project" means any program or project in the public schools of this
22 state that is designed to explore or develop new or unproven teaching
23 methods or techniques designed to affect behavioral, emotional, or atti-
24 tudinal characteristics of an individual or group.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD01899-01-9
A. 1163 2
1 2. All instructional material, including teachers' manuals, films,
2 tapes, or other supplementary instructional material, which will be used
3 in connection with any psychiatric or psychological research or exper-
4 imentation program or project, as defined in paragraph (e) of subdivi-
5 sion one of this section, shall be available for inspection by the
6 parents or guardians of the children involved in such program or project
7 prior to the implementation of such program or project.
8 3. No student shall be required, as part of any program, project,
9 class, course, or activity in the public schools of this state, to
10 submit without prior consent to psychiatric examination, testing, or
11 treatment, or psychological examination, testing, or treatment, in which
12 the primary purpose is to reveal information concerning one or more of
13 the following:
14 (a) Political affiliations;
15 (b) Religious beliefs and practices;
16 (c) Mental and psychological problems potentially embarrassing to the
17 student or his or her family;
18 (d) Sex behavior and attitudes;
19 (e) Illegal, anti-social, self-incriminating and demeaning behavior;
20 (f) Critical appraisals of other individuals with whom the student has
21 close family relationships;
22 (g) Legally recognized privileged and analogous relationships, such as
23 those of lawyers, physicians, and ministers; or
24 (h) Income, other than that required by law, to determine eligibility
25 for participation in a program or for receiving financial assistance
26 under a program.
27 4. No student shall be subjected, as part of any program, project,
28 class, course or activity in the public schools of this state, to any
29 educational activity in which the student is asked to place his or her
30 mind in a passive posture such as in meditation or other stress-reduc-
31 tion technique, without prior consent.
32 5. Educational agencies and institutions shall give parents and
33 students effective notice of their rights under this section.
34 § 2. This act shall take effect on the first of November next succeed-
35 ing the date on which it shall have become a law.
