2023 New York Laws › EDN - Education › Title 6 - Special Schools and Instruction › Article 85 - Instruction of the Deaf and of the Blind › 4212 - Protection of Pupils.

§ 4212. 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 bargaining  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 with respect to a
child in such residential facility or program;
(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.
(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.
Such standards shall also establish as a priority requirements that:
(A) 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
(B)  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 program, in techniques and
procedures which will enable such children to  protect  themselves  from
reportable incidents.
The  department  shall  take  all  reasonable and necessary actions to
assure  that  employees,  volunteers  and  consultants  in   residential
facilities  and  programs  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 subdivision shall,
to the extent possible, be consistent with those  promulgated  by  other
state agencies for such purposes.
(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  a  residential  facility or program. Any plan of
prevention and remediation  required  to  be  developed  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.