New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 8 - EDUCATION DEPARTMENT › Chapter II - Regulations of the Commissioner › Subchapter E - Elementary and Secondary Education › Part 120 - School Choice and Supplemental Educational Service Providers › Section 120.3 - Unsafe school choice

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
Each local educational agency shall ensure that any student
					 who attends a persistently dangerous public elementary or secondary school, as
					 determined by the Commissioner pursuant to subdivision (a) of this section, or
					 who is a victim of a violent criminal offense, as defined pursuant to
					 subdivision (b) of this section, that occurred on the grounds of a public
					 elementary or secondary school that the student attends, shall be allowed to
					 attend a safe public school at the same grade level within the local
					 educational agency. For purposes of this section, a safe public school shall
					 mean a public school that has not been designated by the Commissioner as a
					 persistently dangerous public elementary or secondary school.
(a) Persistently dangerous schools. Pursuant
				  to guidelines to be developed by the Commissioner in consultation with a
				  representative sample of local educational agencies, the Commissioner shall
				  determine which public elementary and secondary schools are persistently
				  dangerous. A determination that a school is persistently dangerous shall be
				  based upon objective information including, at a minimum, data submitted
				  through the uniform violent incident reporting system, also known as the
				  "school safety and educational climate report", established pursuant to section 2802  of the Education Law and pursuant to
				  section
				  100.2(gg) 
				  of this Subchapter, over a period of two years.
(b) Victims of violent criminal offenses.
				  Each local educational agency that is required to provide unsafe school choice
				  shall establish procedures for determinations by the superintendent of schools
				  or other chief school officer of whether a student is the victim of a violent
				  criminal offense that occurred on school grounds of the school that the student
				  attends. Such superintendent of schools or other chief school officer shall,
				  prior to making any such determination, consult with any law enforcement agency
				  investigating such alleged violent criminal offense and consider any reports or
				  records provided by such agency. The trustees or board of education or other
				  governing board of a local educational agency may provide, by local rule or
				  by-law, for appeal of the determination of the superintendent of schools to
				  such governing board. The determination of such chief school officer pursuant
				  to this subdivision shall not have collateral estoppel effect in any student
				  disciplinary proceeding brought against the alleged victim or perpetrator of
				  such violent criminal offense. For purposes of this subdivision, violent
				  criminal offense shall mean a crime that involved infliction of serious
				  physical injury upon another as defined in the penal law, a sex offense that
				  involved forcible compulsion or any other offense defined in the penal law that
				  involved the use or threatened use of a deadly weapon.
(c) Transfer. Any student who transfers to a
				  safe public school pursuant to the provisions of this section shall be enrolled
				  in the classes and other activities of the public school to which such student
				  transfers in the same manner as all other children at the public
				  school.
(d) Notification. Each
				  local educational agency that is required to provide school choice pursuant to
				  the provisions of this section and section 2802  of the Education Law shall establish
				  procedures for notification of parents of, or persons in parental relation to,
				  students attending schools that have been designated as persistently dangerous
				  and parents of, or persons in parental relation to, students who are victims of
				  violent criminal offenses of their right to transfer to a safe public school
				  within the local educational agency and procedures for such transfer. Such
				  notice shall be, to the extent practicable, provided in the dominant language
				  or mode of communication used by the parents or persons in parental relation to
				  such students. Nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to require such
				  notification where there are no other public schools within the local
				  educational agency at the same grade level or such transfer to a safe public
				  school within the local educational agency is otherwise impossible or to
				  require a local educational agency that has only one public school within the
				  local educational agency or only one public school at each grade level to
				  develop such procedures.
(1) Where the
				  Commissioner has determined that a school is a persistently dangerous public
				  elementary or secondary school, the local educational agency shall notify the
				  parents of, or persons in parental relation to, all students attending such
				  school of their right to transfer to a safe public school within the local
				  educational agency and the procedures for such transfer. The local educational
				  agency shall so notify the parents of, or persons in parental relation to, all
				  such students no later than 10 days after such local educational agency has
				  been advised that the Commissioner has determined that a school is a
				  persistently dangerous public elementary or secondary school.
(2) Where a student has been determined to be
				  the victim of a violent criminal offense, as defined in subdivision (b) of this
				  section, the local educational agency shall notify the parents of, or persons
				  in parental relation to, such student of his or her right to transfer to a safe
				  public school within the local educational agency and the procedures for such
				  transfer. The local educational agency shall so notify the parents of, or
				  persons in parental relation to, such student within 24 hours of such
				  determination.