PRIOR PRINTER'S NO. 160 PRINTER'S NO. 1748
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, HARHAI,
GRUCELA, STEVENSON, CIVERA AND DALEY, JANUARY 27, 1999
AS REPORTED FROM COMMITTEE ON JUDICIARY, HOUSE OF
REPRESENTATIVES, AS AMENDED, MAY 6, 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
1 situations which might occur.
2 (2) The school violence prevention plan is to be
3 developed by a broad-based violence prevention task force
4 based on an assessment of the current needs and resources of
5 the district in the areas of violence prevention and
6 intervention, including an analysis of the types and
7 frequency of crimes and incidents of violence currently
8 occurring on school property or at school-sponsored
9 activities and a review of available community-based
10 resources to address family and youth-related issues.
11 (3) The school violence prevention plan should include
12 appropriate strategies and programs to address both school
13 safety and violence prevention.
14 Section 3. Definitions.
15 The following words and phrases when used in this act shall
16 have the meanings given to them in this section unless the
17 context clearly indicates otherwise:
18 "Department." The Department of Education of the
19 Commonwealth.
20 "Local law enforcement agencies." Local police departments,
21 regional Pennsylvania State Police field installations or
22 headquarters, county sheriffs' offices and school district
23 police or security departments.
24 "Plan." The school violence prevention plan developed and
25 adopted by a school district pursuant to this act.
26 "Public School Code of 1949." The act of March 10, 1949
27 (P.L.30, No.14), known as the Public School Code of 1949.
28 "School board." The local board of school directors of a
29 school district.
30 "Secretary." The Secretary of Education of the Commonwealth. <--
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1 "Task force." The locally constituted violence prevention
2 task force formed pursuant to this act.
3 Section 4. Violence prevention plan.
4 (a) Plan required.--By August 1, 1999 WITHIN SIX MONTHS OF <--
5 THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THIS ACT, every school district shall
6 develop and submit to the department a violence prevention plan.
7 The plan shall be submitted to the department only after it is
8 recommended by the violence prevention task force created
9 pursuant to section 6 and approved by the school board.
10 (b) Public inspection.--The violence prevention plan shall
11 be made available for public inspection in the school district
12 offices for at least 30 days prior to its approval by the school
13 board.
14 (c) Duration.--The violence prevention plan shall remain in
15 effect until it is superseded by an approved revision.
16 (d) Revisions.--Any revisions to the original plan submitted
17 to the department shall be approved by the school board with the
18 advice of its task force and the revised plan submitted to the
19 department.
20 (E) FAILURE TO COMPLY.--A SCHOOL DISTRICT WHICH FAILS TO <--
21 COMPLY WITH THIS SECTION SHALL BE INELIGIBLE FOR REIMBURSEMENT
22 UNDER ARTICLE XXV OF THE PUBLIC SCHOOL CODE OF 1949, UNTIL IT
23 ESTABLISHES COMPLIANCE.
24 Section 5. Preliminary assessments.
25 (a) Needs assessment.--Before beginning development of its
26 plan, the task force shall undertake a needs assessment to
27 determine specific issues and concerns within the district and
28 its surrounding community. This should include documentation of
29 current problems such as truancy, fighting, vandalism, weapons-
30 related offenses and drug-related and alcohol-related incidents
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1 already occurring within the school environment as well as an
2 evaluation of the district's physical environment in order to
3 identify locations which may be particularly isolated or
4 violence prone.
5 (b) Review of existing programs.--Concurrent with the needs
6 assessment the task force shall also compile a list of school-
7 based and community-based programs for young people already
8 available to deal with violence prevention, intervention and
9 rehabilitation.
10 Section 6. Violence prevention task force.
11 (a) Membership.--The plan provided for in section 4 shall be
12 prepared for submission to the school board by a violence
13 prevention task force whose membership shall at a minimum
14 include: district administrators, teachers, guidance counselors,
15 school nurses and school directors; parents; students; local law
16 enforcement agencies AND, AS DEEMED APPROPRIATE, FEDERAL AND <--
17 STATE LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES; community and business leaders;
18 probation and court representatives; social service and health
19 care providers; and other youth-serving professionals.
20 (b) Public hearing.--The task force shall hold at least one
21 public hearing prior to preparing its plan for submission to the
22 school board for approval.
23 Section 7. Content of school violence prevention plan.
24 The plan developed by the task force and submitted to the
25 department shall include the following components:
26 (1) A brief description of the process used to develop
27 the plan, including the members of the task force, the date
28 of public hearings held and the date and official vote by
29 which the local board adopted the plan.
30 (2) Procedures for assuring compliance with existing
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1 laws related to school safety including:
2 (i) Article XIII-A of the Public School Code of
3 1949.
4 (ii) Section 1317.1 of the Public School Code of
5 1949.
6 (iii) Section 1317.2 of the Public School Code of
7 1949.
8 (iv) Sections 1 through 4 of the act of July 12,
9 1972 (P.L.765, No.181) entitled, "An act relating to
10 drugs and alcohol and their abuse, providing for projects
11 and programs and grants to educational agencies, other
12 public or private agencies, institutions or
13 organizations."
14 (v) 18 Pa.C.S. Ch. 61 (relating to firearms and
15 other dangerous articles).
16 (vi) 23 Pa.C.S. Ch. 23 Subch. C.2 (relating to <--
17 background checks for employment in schools).
18 (vii) (VI) 23 Pa.C.S. Ch. 63 Subch. B (relating to <--
19 provisions and responsibilities for reporting suspected
20 child abuse) governing reporting of child abuse.
21 (VII) 23 PA.C.S. CH. 63 SUBCH. C.2 (RELATING TO <--
22 BACKGROUND CHECKS FOR EMPLOYMENT IN SCHOOLS).
23 (3) A code of student conduct.
24 (i) The code of conduct shall conform to the State
25 Board of Education regulations found in 22 Pa. Code 12.3
26 (relating to school rules).
27 (ii) The code shall clearly explain school rules and
28 punishments for infractions.
29 (iii) The code shall include conformity with the
30 zero-tolerance provisions regarding weapons found in
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1 section 1317.2 of the Public School Code of 1949; and any
2 other zero-tolerance offenses as established by the
3 school board.
4 (iv) The code shall include any establishment of a
5 uniform schoolwide dress code pursuant to section 1317.3
6 of the Public School Code of 1949.
7 (v) At the beginning of each school year students
8 shall be furnished with a copy of the current code of
9 student conduct adopted by the school board. Copies shall
10 also be made available to administrators, parents and
11 teachers within the district.
12 (4) Establishment of policies to insure consistent crime
13 reporting by school officials to law enforcement to include
14 development of memoranda of understanding in compliance with
15 section 1303-A of the Public School Code of 1949.
16 (5) A comprehensive school crisis plan which outlines
17 policies and procedures for dealing with potential crisis
18 situations which, depending on a local assessment of those
19 situations most likely to occur in the district, may include
20 facilities problems such as electrical outages; fires;
21 protests, strikes or other unrest; natural disasters;
22 transportation delays, problems or accidents; individual
23 child accidents; medical problems involving multiple
24 students, such as a meningitis outbreak; individual medical
25 crises including alcohol and drugs; individual mental health
26 crises, including trauma and suicide; intentional acts
27 against persons, including assaults, rape, assaults with
28 weapons, assaults with chemicals, bomb threats or bullying;
29 hostage situations; abductions, kidnappings or missing
30 persons; and events outside school that may affect the school
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1 community, such as a major crime or accident such as an
2 airline crash. A comprehensive crisis plan should include the
3 following elements:
4 (i) Prevention guidelines which outline policies to
5 prevent incidents. These may include curricular offerings
6 or special age-appropriate programs to develop students'
7 interpersonal skills such as peer mediation, mentoring,
8 peer intervention and conflict resolution; staff
9 training; techniques and procedures for identification
10 and reporting by staff and students of potential violent
11 or criminal acts; disciplinary and counseling procedures
12 for drug-related and alcohol-related incidents; and
13 implementation of specific safety procedures to be put in
14 place within the district, such as mandatory visitor
15 identification.
16 (ii) Early interventions which delineate activities
17 and guidelines to inform people of how to assess a
18 potential problem and what to do about it. These may
19 include staff training in assessment tools for predicting
20 violent juvenile behavior, bomb threat procedures and
21 crisis training drills so students and staff know what to
22 do if an emergency occurs.
23 (iii) Crisis intervention guidelines which include
24 directions on how to get help, specific steps to be taken
25 and steps to avoid. These should be developed in concert
26 with existing memoranda of understanding developed with
27 law enforcement pursuant to section 1301-A(c) of the
28 Public School Code of 1949. Specific issues that should
29 be addressed in the guidelines include lines of
30 responsibility, reporting procedures, communications
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1 protocols, special equipment and materials needs, etc.
2 (iv) Support guidelines which identify needs and
3 available resources in terms of support for staff,
4 students, families and others after a crisis situation
5 occurs. This may include referral to counseling,
6 rehabilitation or other intervention programs available
7 in the local community.
8 (v) Debriefing and evaluation which outlines
9 procedures for all responders to meet following an
10 incident in order to evaluate how the various components
11 of the plan operated in actual application.
12 (vi) Revisions and upgrading of plan which are based
13 on evaluation and other input from responders, victims,
14 staff and others involved in the incident.
15 (6) Any other programs, curricular offerings or
16 procedures that the task force deems necessary to the safe
17 and orderly operation of the district.
18 Section 8. State resources.
19 (a) General rule.--In developing its plan, a district may
20 utilize the existing resources of the Center for Safe Schools
21 established by the Department of Education DEPARTMENT pursuant <--
22 to the Public School Code of 1949. In particular, districts may
23 reference the Toolkit for School Safety Planning developed by
24 the Center for Safe Schools.
25 (b) Dissemination of model plans.--The Department of <--
26 Education DEPARTMENT, through its Office for Safe Schools, shall <--
27 develop and make available to school districts model violence
28 prevention plans drawn from programs already offered in this
29 State and nationally. These model plans shall include any
30 pertinent supporting materials and information indicating why
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1 the model was selected and where it was previously used. These
2 models may be used by individual districts and their task forces
3 to develop their local plans. The department shall make every
4 effort to assure that multiple model plans are available which
5 reflect rural, suburban and urban perspectives.
6 Section 9. Regional planning.
7 (a) Cooperation.--In order to provide for maximum
8 coordination of efforts and to avoid duplication, one or more
9 districts may join to form a consortium for the purposes of
10 developing their violence prevention plan and may form a single
11 joint task force to assist them in this regard.
12 (b) Intermediate unit utilization.--Districts may utilize
13 the services of their intermediate units to facilitate such
14 regional planning.
15 (c) Submission of individual plan required.--The provisions
16 of this section notwithstanding, each district which is a member
17 of such a consortium shall submit its own plan, adopted by its
18 school board to the department.
19 Section 10. Pre-existing plans.
20 (a) General rule.--Any school district which has already
21 developed a school violence prevention plan adopted by its local
22 board of school directors and that contains the components
23 required in section 7 may not be required to develop a new plan
24 but may submit the pre-existing plan to the Department of <--
25 Education DEPARTMENT in compliance with section 4. <--
26 (b) Revisions.--Any revisions to a pre-existing plan shall
27 be subject to the requirements of section 4.
28 Section 11. Effective date.
29 This act shall take effect immediately.
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