Assembly Bill A4324

                                BILL NUMBER:A4324                REVISED 3/8/10

TITLE  OF  BILL:    An  act to amend the education law, in relation to
including  pupils  from  school  districts  within  a  city  having  a
population  of  one million or more within the definition of child for
the purposes of  their  protection  from  abuse  and  maltreatment  in
educational settings

PURPOSE  OF  BILL:   This bill would amend the education law to extend
protection to  children  in  school  districts  throughout  the  state
without having to adhere to population restrictions.

SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:

§1  of this bill amends subdivision 2 of section 1125 of the education
laws of 2000 to define "Child" to mean  a  person  under  the  age  of
twenty-one years enrolled in a school district in this state,

JUSTIFICATION:  On May 2nd 2001 a teacher employed at Public School 78
in the Bronx was charged with sodomizing a 9-Year old boy. Previously,
in 1998, the accused teacher had been under internal investigation for
exposing himself to a student.

It  is  unacceptable  that  the  incident  was  not  reported  to  the
authorities, opening the door  for  that  teacher  to  engage  in  the
behavior  at  the  center  of the 2001 incident. Allegations of such a
              

nature should not be handled internally.

Protecting our children is one of parents' most heartfelt concerns. In
order to secure the safety of our children, schools around  the  state
were  required to adhere to a stricter standard of reporting incidents
of child abuse and maltreatment. However, New York City  was  exempted
from that stricter standard.

A  study  done by the American Association of University Women in 2001
states that over "4.5 million students are sexually harassed or abused
by an employee of a school  sometime  between  kindergarten  and  12th
grade." (See, http://www.freerepublic.cornifocus/f-news/1094835/posts)

Based  upon  data  collected for the National Incident-Based Reporting
System between 1991 and 2002, 67 percent of victims of sexual  assault
were  juveniles under the age of 18, and 34 percent were victims under
the age of 12, (see, http://www.prevent-abuse-now.cornistats.htm
Links). A number of studies suggest that sexual misconduct can  happen
anywhere  from  13  to  34 percent for females and 7 to 16 percent for
males. (see,  http://www2.ed.gov/rschstat/research/pubs/  misconductre
view/report.pdf)

Sexual  abuse is a serious crime, which can adversely effect a child's
life. The result of  being  sexually  abused  can  have  psychological
consequences   that  can  result  in  anger,  eating  disorders,  self
mutilation,  and  a  loss  of  self  esteem.  (see,   http://www.ncyc,
orgincvemain.aspx?dbName=DocurnentViewer&DocumentID=32369
3).


In  order to properly protect our children, the law needs to cover all
school districts, which requires that the exemption  for  cities  over
one million in population be eliminated.

LEGISLATIVE  HISTORY:    A.8872  of  the  2001-2002  Sessions,  Passed
Assembly; S.5720, died in Children and Families;
A.8914 of the 2003-2004 Sessions, died in Codes;
A.4410 of the 2005-2006 Sessions, died in Codes;
A.6636 of the 2007-2008 Sessions, Passed Assembly;
A.4234 of the 2009-2010 Sessions, Passed Assembly; S.7003.

FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:  Minimal fiscal implications.

EFFECTIVE DATE:  This act shall take effect immediately.