§ 2802 — Uniform violent incident reporting system

§ 2802. Uniform violent incident reporting system. 1. The\ncommissioner, in conjunction with the division of criminal justice\nservices, shall promulgate regulations defining "violent or disruptive\nincidents" for the purposes of this section.\n 2. The commissioner, in conjunction with the division of criminal\njustice services, shall establish a statewide uniform violent incident\nreporting system which public school districts, boards of cooperative\neducational services and county vocational education and extension\nboards shall follow.\n 3. The uniform violent incident reporting system shall require public\nschool districts, boards of cooperative educational services and county\nvocational education and extension boards to annually report to the\ncommissioner in a form and by a date prescribed by the commissioner, the\nfollowing information concerning violent and disruptive incidents that\noccurred in the prior school year:\n a. the type of offenders;\n b. if any offender is a student, the age and grade of the student;\n c. the location at which the incident occurred;\n d. the type of incident;\n e. whether the incident occurred during or outside of regular school\nhours;\n f. where the incident involves a weapon, whether the weapon was a\nfirearm, knife or other weapon;\n g. the actions taken by the school in response to the incident,\nincluding when the incident was reported to law enforcement officials\nand whether disciplinary action was taken against the offenders;\n h. any student discipline or referral action taken against a\nstudent/offender, including but not limited to an out-of-school\nsuspension, an involuntary transfer to an alternative placement, an\nin-school suspension, a referral for community service, a referral for\ncounseling, or a referral to the juvenile justice system, and the\nduration of such action; and\n i. the nature of the victim and the victim's age and grade where\nappropriate.\n 4. The commissioner shall require a summary of such information to be\nincluded, in a form prescribed by the commissioner, in the school\ndistrict report cards or board of cooperative educational services\nreport cards required by this chapter.\n 5. By April first of each year, the commissioner shall report to the\ngovernor, the legislature and the regents concerning the prevalence of\nviolence and disruptive incidents in the public schools, and the\neffectiveness of school programs undertaken to reduce violence and\nassure the safety and security of students and school personnel. The\nreport shall summarize the information available from the incident\nreporting system, and compare the incidence of violent and disruptive\nincidents of schools and school districts and boards with other schools\nand school districts and boards based on similarity in size and grade\nlevels and other characteristics, including student need and resources,\nas determined by the commissioner. The report shall also, to the extent\npossible, relate the results available from the incident reporting\nsystem, together with such other analysis and information as the\ncommissioner determines is appropriate, to the effectiveness of school\nviolence measures undertaken by participating schools and school\ndistricts, including the school codes and school safety plans required\nby sections twenty-eight hundred one and twenty-eight hundred one-a of\nthis article.\n 6. The commissioner, in conjunction with the commissioner of the\ndivision of criminal justice services, shall promulgate regulations to\nimplement the provisions of this section and to assure to the extent\npracticable that the reports used by school districts are uniform and\ncomparable with respect to the types of incidents reported and the\nresponses of the schools and the school districts. Such regulations\nshall provide for the confidentiality of all personally identifiable\ninformation and shall ensure that any personally identifiable\ninformation which is collected is used only for its intended purpose.\n 7. Notwithstanding any other provision of state or local law, rule or\nregulation to the contrary, any student who attends a persistently\ndangerous public elementary or secondary school, as determined by the\ncommissioner pursuant to paragraph a of this subdivision, or who is a\nvictim of a violent criminal offense, as defined pursuant to paragraph b\nof this subdivision, that occurred on the grounds of a public elementary\nor secondary school that the student attends, shall be allowed to attend\na safe public school within the local educational agency to the extent\nrequired by section eighty-five hundred thirty-two of the Elementary and\nSecondary Education Act of nineteen hundred sixty-five, as amended.\n a. The commissioner shall annually determine which public elementary\nand secondary schools are persistently dangerous in accordance with\nregulations of the commissioner developed in consultation with a\nrepresentative sample of local educational agencies. Such determination\nshall be based on data submitted through the uniform violent incident\nreporting system over a period prescribed in the regulations, which\nshall not be less than two years.\n b. Each local educational agency required to provide unsafe school\nchoice shall establish procedures for determinations by the\nsuperintendent of schools or other chief school officer of whether a\nstudent is the victim of a violent criminal offense that occurred on\nschool grounds of the school that the student attends. Such\nsuperintendent of schools or other chief school officer shall, prior to\nmaking any such determination, consult with any law enforcement agency\ninvestigating such alleged violent criminal offense and consider any\nreports or records provided by such agency. The trustees or board of\neducation or other governing board of a local educational agency may\nprovide, by local rule or by-law, for appeal of the determination of the\nsuperintendent of schools to such governing board. Notwithstanding any\nother provision of law to the contrary, the determination of such chief\nschool officer pursuant to this paragraph shall not have collateral\nestoppel effect in any student disciplinary proceeding brought against\nthe alleged victim or perpetrator of such violent criminal offense. For\npurposes of this subdivision, "violent criminal offense" shall mean a\ncrime that involved infliction of serious physical injury upon another\nas defined in the penal law, a sex offense that involved forcible\ncompulsion or any other offense defined in the penal law that involved\nthe use or threatened use of a deadly weapon.\n c. Each local educational agency, as defined in subsection thirty of\nsection eighty-one hundred one of the Elementary and Secondary Education\nAct of nineteen hundred sixty-five, as amended, that is required to\nprovide school choice pursuant to section eighty-five hundred thirty-two\nof the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of nineteen hundred\nsixty-five, as amended, shall establish procedures for notification of\nparents of, or persons in parental relation to, students attending\nschools that have been designated as persistently dangerous and parents\nof, or persons in parental relation to, students who are victims of\nviolent criminal offenses of their right to transfer to a safe public\nschool within the local educational agency and procedures for such\ntransfer, except that nothing in this subdivision shall be construed to\nrequire such notification where there are no other public schools within\nthe local educational agency at the same grade level or such transfer to\na safe public school within the local educational agency is otherwise\nimpossible or to require a local educational agency that has only one\npublic school within the local educational agency or only one public\nschool at each grade level to develop such procedures. The commissioner\nshall be authorized to adopt any regulations deemed necessary to assure\nthat local educational agencies implement the provisions of this\nsubdivision.\n