Senate Bill S7003

                                 BILL NUMBER:  S7003              REVISED 03/08/10

 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 2, 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.com/focus/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.com/ stats.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.ncvc.org/
ncvc/main.aspx?dbName=DocumentViewer&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.