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Thursday, June 22, 2000
The New York State Senate today passed legislation (S.1031G), sponsored by Senator Stephen Saland (R-C, Poughkeepsie), that would require a criminal history screening as a condition for certification of education professionals and would require school districts to fingerprint prospective employees and submit those fingerprints to the Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
"In our recent history, we have seen a number of teachers allowed to 'quietly resign' who have spread their particular brand of misery to school children and their families in districts throughout the state," Senator Saland said. "Remarkably, New York State has no law on its books that establishes any consistent procedure for the recording, preservation or investigation of child abuse in an educational setting."
"All too often we hear of incidents where school employees have been charged with abuse against students," Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno (R-C, Brunswick) said. "This legislation will provide parity between the protections that exist only for school children in New York City but not for the rest of the state."
Specifically, the legislation:
* Requires fingerprinting of all prospective school employees.
* DCJS and the FBI will do the criminal history check.
* DCJS will receive the fingerprints from school districts and send the criminal history record to SED who will make the determination whether or not their applicant is cleared for employment.
* Requires school employees to report allegations of child abuse in a school setting to law enforcement authorities for investigation.
* Willful failure of an employee to report an allegation is a class A misdemeanor.
"This legislation was drafted after numerous statewide hearings with victims of abuse in school settings, police agencies, prosecutors, sociologists and academics, said Senator Saland, Chairman of the Children and Families. "The result is a bill that requires fingerprinting of all school employees, formalizes a standard process for the recording of allegations of child abuse in an educational setting, and establishes procedures to transmit the allegations to law enforcement agencies for investigation of what the alleged abuse really is -- a crime against a child."
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