2023 New York Laws › EDN - Education › Title 6 - Special Schools and Instruction › Article 87 - New York State School for the Blind › 4314 - Protection of Pupils.

§ 4314. Protection of pupils. The department shall:
(a)  Promulgate regulations concerning standards for the protection of
children in residential care from  reportable  incidents  in  accordance
with  this  section  and  article  eleven  of  the  social services law,
including procedures for:
(i) consistent with appropriate collective agreements  and  applicable
provisions  of  the  civil service law, the review and evaluation of the
backgrounds of and the information supplied by any person applying to be
an employee, a volunteer or consultant, which shall include but  not  be
limited  to the following requirements: that the applicant set forth his
or her employment history, provide personal and  employment  references,
and  relevant experiential and educational information, and sign a sworn
statement indicating whether the applicant, to the best of  his  or  her
knowledge, has ever been convicted of a crime in this state or any other
jurisdiction;
(ii)  establishing  for  employees,  relevant minimal experiential and
educational  qualifications  consistent  with   appropriate   collective
bargaining  agreements  and  applicable  provisions of the civil service
law;
(iii) assuring adequate  and  appropriate  supervision  of  employees,
volunteers and consultants;
(iv)   demonstrating   by  a  residential  facility  or  program  that
appropriate action is taken to assure the safety of  the  child  who  is
alleged  to  have been subjected to a reportable incident in a report to
the vulnerable persons' central register in accordance with section four
hundred ninety-two of the social services law as well as other  children
in  care,  immediately  upon  notification  that  such  a  report  of an
allegation of a reportable incident has been made;
(v) removing a child when it is determined that there is risk to  such
child  if he or she continues to remain within a residential facility or
program; and
(vi) appropriate preventive and remedial action to be taken  including
legal   actions,   consistent  with  appropriate  collective  bargaining
agreements and applicable provisions of the civil service law.
Such standards shall also establish as a priority  requirements  that:
(1)  subject  to  the  amounts  appropriated  therefor,  administrators,
employees, volunteers and consultants receive training in at  least  the
following:    child  abuse  prevention  and  identification,  safety and
security  procedures,  the  principles   of   child   development,   the
characteristics  of  children  in care and techniques of group and child
management including crisis  intervention,  the  laws,  regulations  and
procedures   governing   the  protection  of  children  from  reportable
incidents, and other appropriate  topics,  provided  however,  that  the
department   may   exempt   administrators  and  consultants  from  such
requirements upon demonstration of substantially equivalent knowledge or
experience; and
(2) subject to the amounts  appropriated  therefor,  children  receive
instruction,  consistent with their age, needs and circumstances as well
as the needs and  circumstances  within  the  facility  or  program,  in
techniques  and  procedures  which  will enable such children to protect
themselves from reportable incidents.
The department, in consultation with the  executive  director  of  the
justice  center  for  the protection of people with special needs, shall
take all reasonable and necessary  actions  to  assure  that  employees,
volunteers  and  consultants in residential facilities are kept apprised
on a current basis of all department policies and procedures relating to
the protection of children from reportable incidents and  shall  monitor
and  supervise  the  provision of training to such employees, volunteers

and consultants. Regulations and standards developed  pursuant  to  this
section  shall,  to  the  extent  possible,  be  consistent  with  those
promulgated by other state agencies for such purposes;
(vii)  consistent  with  applicable  collective bargaining agreements,
assuring that an individual who has committed a category one offense, as
defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision four  of  section  four  hundred
ninety-three  of  the  social  services  law,  that  is  included on the
vulnerable persons' central register is not hired or otherwise  used  in
any position in which such individual would have regular and substantial
contact  with  a service recipient in any program described in paragraph
(e) of subdivision four of section  four  hundred  eighty-eight  of  the
social services law.
(b)  Provide  for  the  development  and  implementation  of a plan of
prevention and remediation with respect to  a  substantiated  report  of
abuse  or  neglect.  Such  action  shall include: (i) within ten days of
receipt of such a substantiated report, development  and  implementation
of  a  plan  of prevention and remediation to be taken with respect to a
custodian or the residential facility in order to assure  the  continued
health  and  safety  of  children  and  to provide for the prevention of
future acts constituting reportable incidents; and (ii) development  and
implementation  of a plan of prevention and remediation, in the event an
investigation  of  a  report  of  an  allegation  of  abuse  or  neglect
determines  that  a  preponderance  of  the  evidence of such allegation
exists and such substantiated allegation may be attributed in  whole  or
in  part  to  noncompliance  by the residential facility or program with
provisions of this chapter or regulations of the  department  applicable
to  the  operation  of such residential facility or program. Any plan of
prevention and remediation required to be  developed  pursuant  to  this
subdivision  by  a  facility  supervised  by  the  department  shall  be
submitted to and approved by the  department  in  accordance  with  time
limits  established  by regulations of the department. Implementation of
the plan  shall  be  monitored  by  the  department.  In  reviewing  the
continued  qualifications  of  a  residential facility or program for an
operating certificate, the department  shall  evaluate  such  facility's
compliance  with  plans  of  prevention  and  remediation  developed and
implemented pursuant to this subdivision.