NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A2231
SPONSOR: Walsh (MS) TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to enacting "Jacobe's
law"
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
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.
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 the immunity provisions provided by article
2 of Education Law.
Section 4 of the bill provides the effective date.
JUSTIFICATION:
In April 2015, 13-year-old Jacobe Tares 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.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2022: A.3027; Referred to Education
2021: A.3027; Referred to Education
2020: A.8259; Referred to Education
2019: A.8259; Referred to Education
2018: A.8114B referred to education
A.8114B amend and recommit to education
A.8114B print number 8114c
A.8114C amend and recommit to education
A.8114C print number 8114d
A.8114D reference changed to codes
A.8114D amend and recommit to codes
A.8114D print number 8114e
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None to the State.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
2231
2023-2024 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 25, 2023
___________
Introduced by M. of A. WALSH, J. M. GIGLIO, PALMESANO, McDONOUGH, BRABE-
NEC, REILLY, MIKULIN, WOERNER, MANKTELOW, DeSTEFANO, GOODELL, SMITH,
MILLER, DURSO, GALLAHAN, SIMPSON -- Multi-Sponsored by -- M. of A.
BYRNES, HAWLEY, MORINELLO, TAGUE -- read once and referred 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 Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. This act shall be known and may be cited as "Jacobe's law".
2 § 2. The education law is amended by adding a new section 15-a to read
3 as follows:
4 § 15-a. Reporting by school employees. 1. School employees, as defined
5 in subdivision four of this section, shall investigate and verify, in
6 accordance with the provisions of this article, that a reported incident
7 of harassment, bullying or discrimination has occurred.
8 2. Upon a verified incident of harassment, bullying or discrimination,
9 a licensed or certified school counselor, school social worker, school
10 psychologist, school nurse, principal or assistant principal shall
11 discuss with each student involved in the incident whether he or she has
12 any health, safety or privacy concerns with the school employee making a
13 reasonable and good faith effort to contact their parent or person in
14 parental relation. Any discussions shall be immediately documented by
15 such school counselor, school social worker, school psychologist, school
16 nurse, principal or assistant principal.
17 3. If a student does not express a health, safety or privacy concern,
18 the school employee shall make a reasonable and good faith effort to
19 contact the parent or person in parental relation of the students
20 involved in the incident by telephone, email, mail or other means to
21 discuss the incident and ways to effectively address the situation. If a
22 student does express a health, safety or privacy concern, such school
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00332-01-3
A. 2231 2
1 counselor, school social worker, school psychologist, school nurse,
2 principal or assistant principal shall determine, using their profes-
3 sional judgement, if contacting a student's parent or person in parental
4 relation would be in the best interest of the student.
5 4. As used in this section "school employee" shall mean the principal,
6 superintendent or the principal's or superintendent's designee who is
7 charged with receiving reports of harassment, bullying and discrimi-
8 nation in accordance with paragraph a of subdivision one of section
9 thirteen of this article.
10 § 3. Section 16 of the education law, as amended by chapter 102 of the
11 laws of 2012, is amended to read as follows:
12 § 16. Protection of people who report harassment, bullying or discrim-
13 ination. Any person having reasonable cause to suspect that a student
14 has been subjected to harassment, bullying or discrimination, by an
15 employee or student, on school grounds or at a school function, who,
16 acting reasonably and in good faith, reports such information to school
17 officials, to the commissioner or to law enforcement authorities, acts
18 in compliance with paragraph e or i of subdivision one of section thir-
19 teen of this article or with section fifteen-a of this article, or
20 otherwise initiates, testifies, participates or assists in any formal or
21 informal proceedings under this article, shall have immunity from any
22 civil liability that may arise from the making of such report or from
23 initiating, testifying, participating or assisting in such formal or
24 informal proceedings, and no school district or employee shall take,
25 request or cause a retaliatory action against any such person who,
26 acting reasonably and in good faith, either makes such a report or
27 initiates, testifies, participates or assists in such formal or informal
28 proceedings.
29 § 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
