Enacts the "Trevyan Rowe child and young teen mental health community safety act"; directs boards of education to create policies, procedures, and guidelines for at-risk children and young teens who have demonstrated suicidal ideation, been victims of harassment or bullying, and/or who have eloped from school property; establishes a commission to evaluate the safety and security of children in primary and secondary public and private schools in this state.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
6495--A
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
March 5, 2025
___________
Introduced by M. of A. BRONSON, SEAWRIGHT, SIMON, DAVILA, GLICK, COLTON
-- read once and referred to the Committee on Education -- recommitted
to the Committee on Education in accordance with Assembly Rule 3, sec.
2 -- committee discharged, bill amended, ordered reprinted as amended
and recommitted to said committee
AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to enacting the "Trevyan
Rowe child and young teen mental health community safety act"
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The education law is amended by adding a new article 2-A to
2 read as follows:
3 ARTICLE 2-A
4 CHILD & YOUNG TEEN MENTAL HEALTH
5 Section 20. Short title.
6 21. Definitions.
7 22. Child and young teen mental health and community safety.
8 23. Reporting.
9 24. Commission.
10 § 20. Short title. This article shall be known and may be cited as the
11 "Trevyan Rowe child and young teen mental health community safety act".
12 § 21. Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following
13 terms shall have the following meanings:
14 1. "Harassment" and "bullying" shall mean the creation of a hostile
15 environment by conduct or by threats, intimidation or abuse, including
16 cyberbullying, that (a) has or would have the effect of unreasonably and
17 substantially interfering with a student's educational performance,
18 opportunities or benefits, or mental, emotional or physical well-being;
19 or (b) reasonably causes or would reasonably be expected to cause a
20 student to fear for such student's physical safety; or (c) reasonably
21 causes or would reasonably be expected to cause physical injury or
22 emotional harm to a student; or (d) occurs off school property and
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD03597-03-6
A. 6495--A 2
1 creates or would foreseeably create a risk of substantial disruption
2 within the school environment, where it is foreseeable that the conduct,
3 threats, intimidation or abuse might reach school property. Acts of
4 harassment and bullying shall include, but not be limited to, those acts
5 based on a person's actual or perceived race, color, weight, national
6 origin, ethnic group, religion, religious practice, disability, sexual
7 orientation, gender or sex. For the purposes of this definition the term
8 "threats, intimidation or abuse" shall include verbal and non-verbal
9 actions.
10 2. "Cyberbullying" shall mean harassment or bullying as defined in
11 subdivision one of this section, including paragraphs (a), (b), (c) and
12 (d) of such subdivision, where such harassment or bullying occurs
13 through any form of electronic communication.
14 3. "School property" shall mean in or within any building, structure,
15 athletic playing field, playground, parking lot, or land contained with-
16 in the real property boundary line of a public elementary or secondary
17 school; or in or on a school bus, as defined in section one hundred
18 forty-two of the vehicle and traffic law.
19 4. "Disability" shall mean (a) a physical, mental or medical impair-
20 ment resulting from anatomical, physiological, genetic or neurological
21 conditions which prevents the exercise of a normal bodily function or is
22 demonstrable by medically accepted clinical or laboratory diagnostic
23 techniques; (b) a record of such an impairment; or (c) a condition
24 regarded by others as such an impairment.
25 5. "Sexual orientation" shall mean actual or perceived heterosexuali-
26 ty, homosexuality or bisexuality.
27 6. "Gender" shall mean actual or perceived sex and shall include a
28 person's gender identity or expression.
29 7. "Race" shall, for the purposes of this article include traits
30 historically associated with race, including but not limited to, hair
31 texture and protective hairstyles as defined by section eleven of this
32 title.
33 8. "At-risk children or young teenagers" shall mean children or teen-
34 agers seventeen years of age or younger who (a) have a disability or who
35 identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, gender non-con-
36 forming; and (b) are in need of mental or behavioral health support due
37 to anxiety, trauma, harassment or bullying, physical or mental abuse,
38 suicidal ideation, or self-harm.
39 9. "Police officer" shall have the same meaning as defined by subdivi-
40 sion thirty-four of section 1.20 of the criminal procedure law.
41 10. "Peace officer" shall mean a person listed in section 2.10 of the
42 criminal procedure law.
43 § 22. Child and young teen mental health and community safety. 1. The
44 board of education and the trustees or sole trustee of every school
45 district shall create policies, procedures, and guidelines, including
46 prevention, intervention, and postvention planning to direct teachers,
47 school administrators, school safety staff, bus drivers, other school
48 district employees, social workers, police officers, and peace officers
49 on how to respond to children or young teenagers, including but not
50 limited to at-risk children or young teenagers, who have:
51 (a) Demonstrated suicidal ideation, intentions, or inflicted self-
52 harm;
53 (b) Been victims of harassment or bullying; and/or
54 (c) Without permission, wandered or eloped from school property, or
55 threatened to do so.
A. 6495--A 3
1 2. In creating the policies, procedures, and guidelines pursuant to
2 subdivision one of this section, a board of education and the trustees
3 or sole trustee of a school district shall coordinate with pediatric
4 mental and behavioral health services providers, community health agen-
5 cies, local law enforcement and public safety agencies, and any other
6 local municipal agency offering relevant mental or behavioral health
7 services.
8 3. Upon creation of the policies, procedures, and guidelines pursuant
9 to subdivision one of this section, and annually thereafter, a board of
10 education of a school district shall distribute such policies, proce-
11 dures, and guidelines to all teachers, school administrators, school
12 safety staff, bus drivers, and other employees of such school district,
13 and any local social services agencies, and local law enforcement and
14 public safety agencies.
15 § 23. Reporting. The commissioner shall create a procedure under which
16 boards of education of every school district shall report to the depart-
17 ment annually on the policies, procedures, and guidelines developed
18 pursuant to subdivision one of section twenty-two of this article. The
19 commissioner may comply with the requirements of this section through
20 use of the existing uniform violent incident reporting system under
21 section twenty-eight hundred two of this chapter, and/or the reporting
22 requirements for harassment, bullying and discrimination on school
23 grounds or at a school function under section fifteen of this title.
24 § 24. Commission. 1. There is hereby created in the department a
25 "commission on child and young teen mental health and community safety"
26 to evaluate the safety and security of children in primary and secondary
27 public and private schools in this state. The commission, in consulta-
28 tion with the office of children and family services and the office of
29 mental health shall perform the following duties:
30 (a) evaluate the safety and security of students in primary and
31 secondary private and public schools in this state;
32 (b) identify any disparate treatment regarding mental health or behav-
33 ioral health services provided to students in primary and secondary
34 private and public schools in this state and in Monroe county;
35 (c) examine the effects of COVID-19 on the mental health and behav-
36 ioral health of primary and secondary students in this state, as it
37 relates to returning to in-person learning;
38 (d) identify any racial or ethnic disparities in the delivery of
39 educational supports and services to students in primary and secondary
40 private and public schools in this state, whether such students partic-
41 ipate in person or through distance learning methods; and
42 (e) suggest modifications to the personalized recovery-oriented
43 services (PROS) program to allow participants to access mental health
44 services outside of such program through a healthcare provider of their
45 choice without losing eligibility for comprehensive assistance under
46 such program to encourage natural supports and improve medication
47 management.
48 2. The commission shall consist of eleven members to be appointed as
49 follows:
50 (a) one member shall be appointed by the governor;
51 (b) one member shall be appointed by the speaker of the assembly;
52 (c) one member shall be appointed by the temporary president of the
53 senate;
54 (d) one member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the assem-
55 bly;
A. 6495--A 4
1 (e) one member shall be appointed by the minority leader of the
2 senate;
3 (f) two members shall be appointed by the commissioner of mental
4 health;
5 (g) two members shall be appointed by the commissioner of the office
6 of children and family services; and
7 (h) two members shall be appointed by the commissioner.
8 3. The members of the commission shall receive no compensation for
9 their services, but shall be allowed their actual and necessary expenses
10 incurred in the performance of their duties hereunder.
11 4. The commission may acquire directly from the head of any depart-
12 ment, agency, or instrumentality of the state, available information
13 which the commission considers useful in the discharge of its duties.
14 All departments, agencies, and instrumentalities of the state shall
15 cooperate with the commission with respect to such information and shall
16 furnish all information requested by the commission to the extent
17 permitted by law.
18 5. The commission shall submit a report of its findings and recommen-
19 dations to the governor, the temporary president of the senate, the
20 speaker of the assembly and the minority leaders of the senate and the
21 assembly no later than one year after the effective date of this
22 section.
23 § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
24 have become a law; provided, however, that effective immediately, the
25 addition, amendment and/or repeal of any rule or regulation necessary
26 for the implementation of this act on its effective date are authorized
27 to be made and completed on or before such effective date.
