Expands the monitoring of student incidents within the online occurrence reporting system to maintain and store data for the entirety of a student's elementary and secondary education, in order to allow school principals to identify repeated incidents of behavior and determine if additional support or intervention is needed.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A5139
SPONSOR: Reilly TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to expanding the monitoring of student incidents to identify
repeated incidents of behavior
PURPOSE::
The purpose of this legislation is to expand use of a pre-existing
system to track a student's academic career starting in kindergarten
until the student graduates from high school. This allows for school
administrators and personnel to have the necessary tools to encourage
and support a safe learning environment.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::
This act amends the administrative code of the city of New York to add a
section 21-981.2 which allows school administrators to track students on
the Online Occurrence Reporting System (OORS) from kindergarten until
the twelfth grade.
JUSTIFICATION::
The Online Occurrence Reporting System (OORS) is used by New York City
public school administrators to track all student-involved incidents
occurring at school, in accordance with schools Chancellor's Regulation
A-832 requiring the documentation and investigation of incidents within
24 hours. The OORS currently allows administrators to track those inci-
dents on a year-to-year basis, meaning that a student-involved incident
occurring in grade four would not show on that student's record in grade
five.This bill requires the Department of Education to enhance their
utilization of the system by tracking incidents throughout a student's
academic career, from kindergarten through twelfth grade, to provide
administrators with vital information and improve their ability to
deliver services that support a safe learning environment.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
Reintroduction.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS::
Not determined.
EFFECTIVE DATE::
Immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
5139
2021-2022 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
February 11, 2021
___________
Introduced by M. of A. REILLY -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Education
AN ACT to amend the administrative code of the city of New York, in
relation to expanding the monitoring of student incidents to identify
repeated incidents of behavior
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. The administrative code of the city of New York is amended
2 by adding a new section 21-981.3 to read as follows:
3 § 21-981.3 Monitoring of student incidents in the online occurrence
4 reporting system to identify repeated incidents of behavior.
5 a. For the purposes of this section, the following terms have the
6 following meanings:
7 Elementary education. The term "elementary education" shall mean
8 grades kindergarten through five.
9 Secondary education. The term "secondary education" shall mean grades
10 six through twelve.
11 b. With respect to any incident having occurred involving an individ-
12 ual student or students which has been investigated and documented by a
13 school principal through the online occurrence reporting system (OORS),
14 such documented incidents shall be stored and maintained by the depart-
15 ment in the OORS database for the entirety of such involved student or
16 students' elementary and secondary education and shall be accessible to
17 school principals during that time. Such incidents shall include, but
18 not be limited to, bullying, harassment, intimidation, discrimination
19 and fighting.
20 c. The department shall ensure that the OORS has capability at all
21 times to store and maintain data as required by subdivision a of this
22 section regarding documented incidents involving an individual student
23 or students.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD08892-01-1
A. 5139 2
1 d. All incidents documented through the OORS shall identify the
2 student or students involved through such students' office of student
3 information system (OSIS) number to ensure privacy. If the OORS identi-
4 fies identical OSIS numbers involved in separate or multiple incidents,
5 the principal of the school where such student or students currently
6 attend shall be notified of such incidents in order to make note of any
7 potential patterns of student behavior requiring additional intervention
8 or support. Such access to information shall allow school principals to
9 promote safer and more inclusive learning environments for students and
10 school communities.
11 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
