PRINTER'S NO. 160
No. 172 Session of 1999
INTRODUCED BY ORIE, BARLEY, ZUG, MASLAND, CORRIGAN, GEIST, GEORGE, E. Z. TAYLOR, BELFANTI, MICOZZIE, PISTELLA, DeLUCA, ARGALL, CORNELL, SANTONI, VAN HORNE, TRELLO, RAMOS, GIGLIOTTI, B. SMITH, SOLOBAY, SEYFERT, M. COHEN, J. TAYLOR, FREEMAN, BROWNE, BUNT, SCRIMENTI, YOUNGBLOOD AND HARHAI, JANUARY 27, 1999
REFERRED TO COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, JANUARY 27, 1999
AN ACT 1 Requiring all school districts to develop a comprehensive school 2 violence prevention plan. 3 The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 4 hereby enacts as follows: 5 Section 1. Short title. 6 This act shall be known and may be cited as the School 7 Violence Prevention Act. 8 Section 2. Legislative intent. 9 It is the intent of the General Assembly that: 10 (1) All Pennsylvania school districts develop a 11 comprehensive and coordinated school violence prevention plan 12 relevant to the specific needs of the district and drawing on 13 existing State and community resources with the goal to 14 create a safe school environment while assuring that 15 appropriate procedures are in place to deal with crisis 16 situations which might occur.
1 (2) The school violence prevention plan is to be 2 developed by a broad-based violence prevention task force 3 based on an assessment of the current needs and resources of 4 the district in the areas of violence prevention and 5 intervention, including an analysis of the types and 6 frequency of crimes and incidents of violence currently 7 occurring on school property or at school-sponsored 8 activities and a review of available community-based 9 resources to address family and youth-related issues. 10 (3) The school violence prevention plan should include 11 appropriate strategies and programs to address both school 12 safety and violence prevention. 13 Section 3. Definitions. 14 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall 15 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the 16 context clearly indicates otherwise: 17 "Department." The Department of Education of the 18 Commonwealth. 19 "Local law enforcement agencies." Local police departments, 20 regional Pennsylvania State Police field installations or 21 headquarters, county sheriffs' offices and school district 22 police or security departments. 23 "Plan." The school violence prevention plan developed and 24 adopted by a school district pursuant to this act. 25 "Public School Code of 1949." The act of March 10, 1949 26 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949. 27 "School board." The local board of school directors of a 28 school district. 29 "Secretary." The Secretary of Education of the Commonwealth. 30 "Task force." The locally constituted violence prevention 19990H0172B0160 - 2 -
1 task force formed pursuant to this act. 2 Section 4. Violence prevention plan. 3 (a) Plan required.--By August 1, 1999, every school district 4 shall develop and submit to the department a violence prevention 5 plan. The plan shall be submitted to the department only after 6 it is recommended by the violence prevention task force created 7 pursuant to section 6 and approved by the school board. 8 (b) Public inspection.--The violence prevention plan shall 9 be made available for public inspection in the school district 10 offices for at least 30 days prior to its approval by the school 11 board. 12 (c) Duration.--The violence prevention plan shall remain in 13 effect until it is superseded by an approved revision. 14 (d) Revisions.--Any revisions to the original plan submitted 15 to the department shall be approved by the school board with the 16 advice of its task force and the revised plan submitted to the 17 department. 18 Section 5. Preliminary assessments. 19 (a) Needs assessment.--Before beginning development of its 20 plan, the task force shall undertake a needs assessment to 21 determine specific issues and concerns within the district and 22 its surrounding community. This should include documentation of 23 current problems such as truancy, fighting, vandalism, weapons- 24 related offenses and drug-related and alcohol-related incidents 25 already occurring within the school environment as well as an 26 evaluation of the district's physical environment in order to 27 identify locations which may be particularly isolated or 28 violence prone. 29 (b) Review of existing programs.--Concurrent with the needs 30 assessment the task force shall also compile a list of school- 19990H0172B0160 - 3 -
1 based and community-based programs for young people already 2 available to deal with violence prevention, intervention and 3 rehabilitation. 4 Section 6. Violence prevention task force. 5 (a) Membership.--The plan provided for in section 4 shall be 6 prepared for submission to the school board by a violence 7 prevention task force whose membership shall at a minimum 8 include: district administrators, teachers, guidance counselors, 9 school nurses and school directors; parents; students; local law 10 enforcement agencies; community and business leaders; probation 11 and court representatives; social service and health care 12 providers; and other youth-serving professionals. 13 (b) Public hearing.--The task force shall hold at least one 14 public hearing prior to preparing its plan for submission to the 15 school board for approval. 16 Section 7. Content of school violence prevention plan. 17 The plan developed by the task force and submitted to the 18 department shall include the following components: 19 (1) A brief description of the process used to develop 20 the plan, including the members of the task force, the date 21 of public hearings held and the date and official vote by 22 which the local board adopted the plan. 23 (2) Procedures for assuring compliance with existing 24 laws related to school safety including: 25 (i) Article XIII-A of the Public School Code of 26 1949. 27 (ii) Section 1317.1 of the Public School Code of 28 1949. 29 (iii) Section 1317.2 of the Public School Code of 30 1949. 19990H0172B0160 - 4 -
1 (iv) Sections 1 through 4 of the act of July 12, 2 1972 (P.L.765, No.181) entitled, "An act relating to 3 drugs and alcohol and their abuse, providing for projects 4 and programs and grants to educational agencies, other 5 public or private agencies, institutions or 6 organizations." 7 (v) 18 Pa.C.S. Ch. 61 (relating to firearms and 8 other dangerous articles). 9 (vi) 23 Pa.C.S. Ch. 23 Subch. C.2 (relating to 10 background checks for employment in schools). 11 (vii) 23 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 Subch. B (relating to 12 provisions and responsibilities for reporting suspected 13 child abuse) governing reporting of child abuse. 14 (3) A code of student conduct. 15 (i) The code of conduct shall conform to the State 16 Board of Education regulations found in 22 Pa. Code 12.3 17 (relating to school rules). 18 (ii) The code shall clearly explain school rules and 19 punishments for infractions. 20 (iii) The code shall include conformity with the 21 zero-tolerance provisions regarding weapons found in 22 section 1317.2 of the Public School Code of 1949; and any 23 other zero-tolerance offenses as established by the 24 school board. 25 (iv) The code shall include any establishment of a 26 uniform schoolwide dress code pursuant to section 1317.3 27 of the Public School Code of 1949. 28 (v) At the beginning of each school year students 29 shall be furnished with a copy of the current code of 30 student conduct adopted by the school board. Copies shall 19990H0172B0160 - 5 -
1 also be made available to administrators, parents and 2 teachers within the district. 3 (4) Establishment of policies to insure consistent crime 4 reporting by school officials to law enforcement to include 5 development of memoranda of understanding in compliance with 6 section 1303-A of the Public School Code of 1949. 7 (5) A comprehensive school crisis plan which outlines 8 policies and procedures for dealing with potential crisis 9 situations which, depending on a local assessment of those 10 situations most likely to occur in the district, may include 11 facilities problems such as electrical outages; fires; 12 protests, strikes or other unrest; natural disasters; 13 transportation delays, problems or accidents; individual 14 child accidents; medical problems involving multiple 15 students, such as a meningitis outbreak; individual medical 16 crises including alcohol and drugs; individual mental health 17 crises, including trauma and suicide; intentional acts 18 against persons, including assaults, rape, assaults with 19 weapons, assaults with chemicals, bomb threats or bullying; 20 hostage situations; abductions, kidnappings or missing 21 persons; and events outside school that may affect the school 22 community, such as a major crime or accident such as an 23 airline crash. A comprehensive crisis plan should include the 24 following elements: 25 (i) Prevention guidelines which outline policies to 26 prevent incidents. These may include curricular offerings 27 or special age-appropriate programs to develop students' 28 interpersonal skills such as peer mediation, mentoring, 29 peer intervention and conflict resolution; staff 30 training; techniques and procedures for identification 19990H0172B0160 - 6 -
1 and reporting by staff and students of potential violent 2 or criminal acts; disciplinary and counseling procedures 3 for drug-related and alcohol-related incidents; and 4 implementation of specific safety procedures to be put in 5 place within the district, such as mandatory visitor 6 identification. 7 (ii) Early interventions which delineate activities 8 and guidelines to inform people of how to assess a 9 potential problem and what to do about it. These may 10 include staff training in assessment tools for predicting 11 violent juvenile behavior, bomb threat procedures and 12 crisis training drills so students and staff know what to 13 do if an emergency occurs. 14 (iii) Crisis intervention guidelines which include 15 directions on how to get help, specific steps to be taken 16 and steps to avoid. These should be developed in concert 17 with existing memoranda of understanding developed with 18 law enforcement pursuant to section 1301-A(c) of the 19 Public School Code of 1949. Specific issues that should 20 be addressed in the guidelines include lines of 21 responsibility, reporting procedures, communications 22 protocols, special equipment and materials needs, etc. 23 (iv) Support guidelines which identify needs and 24 available resources in terms of support for staff, 25 students, families and others after a crisis situation 26 occurs. This may include referral to counseling, 27 rehabilitation or other intervention programs available 28 in the local community. 29 (v) Debriefing and evaluation which outlines 30 procedures for all responders to meet following an 19990H0172B0160 - 7 -
1 incident in order to evaluate how the various components 2 of the plan operated in actual application. 3 (vi) Revisions and upgrading of plan which are based 4 on evaluation and other input from responders, victims, 5 staff and others involved in the incident. 6 (6) Any other programs, curricular offerings or 7 procedures that the task force deems necessary to the safe 8 and orderly operation of the district. 9 Section 8. State resources. 10 (a) General rule.--In developing its plan, a district may 11 utilize the existing resources of the Center for Safe Schools 12 established by the Department of Education pursuant to the 13 Public School Code of 1949. In particular, districts may 14 reference the Toolkit for School Safety Planning developed by 15 the Center for Safe Schools. 16 (b) Dissemination of model plans.--The Department of 17 Education, through its Office for Safe Schools, shall develop 18 and make available to school districts model violence prevention 19 plans drawn from programs already offered in this State and 20 nationally. These model plans shall include any pertinent 21 supporting materials and information indicating why the model 22 was selected and where it was previously used. These models may 23 be used by individual districts and their task forces to develop 24 their local plans. The department shall make every effort to 25 assure that multiple model plans are available which reflect 26 rural, suburban and urban perspectives. 27 Section 9. Regional planning. 28 (a) Cooperation.--In order to provide for maximum 29 coordination of efforts and to avoid duplication, one or more 30 districts may join to form a consortium for the purposes of 19990H0172B0160 - 8 -
1 developing their violence prevention plan and may form a single 2 joint task force to assist them in this regard. 3 (b) Intermediate unit utilization.--Districts may utilize 4 the services of their intermediate units to facilitate such 5 regional planning. 6 (c) Submission of individual plan required.--The provisions 7 of this section notwithstanding, each district which is a member 8 of such a consortium shall submit its own plan, adopted by its 9 school board to the department. 10 Section 10. Pre-existing plans. 11 (a) General rule.--Any school district which has already 12 developed a school violence prevention plan adopted by its local 13 board of school directors and that contains the components 14 required in section 7 may not be required to develop a new plan 15 but may submit the pre-existing plan to the Department of 16 Education in compliance with section 4. 17 (b) Revisions.--Any revisions to a pre-existing plan shall 18 be subject to the requirements of section 4. 19 Section 11. Effective date. 20 This act shall take effect immediately. L14L24DMS/19990H0172B0160 - 9 -