SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1550        FILED ON: 1/20/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 237

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

_________________

PRESENTED BY:

Sal N. DiDomenico

_________________

To the Honorable Senate and House of Representatives of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in General
Court assembled:

The undersigned legislators and/or citizens respectfully petition for the adoption of the accompanying bill:

An Act to support healthy development among preschoolers.

_______________

PETITION OF:

 

Name:

District/Address:

 

Sal N. DiDomenico

Middlesex and Suffolk

 

Ruth B. Balser

12th Middlesex

1/23/2017

Jay R. Kaufman

15th Middlesex

1/26/2017

Marjorie C. Decker

25th Middlesex

1/26/2017

Barbara A. L'Italien

Second Essex and Middlesex

1/27/2017

Jason M. Lewis

Fifth Middlesex

1/30/2017

Joseph W. McGonagle, Jr.

28th Middlesex

1/30/2017

Kay Khan

11th Middlesex

1/31/2017

James B. Eldridge

Middlesex and Worcester

1/31/2017

Paul R. Heroux

2nd Bristol

2/1/2017

Walter F. Timilty

Norfolk, Bristol and Plymouth

2/2/2017

Mike Connolly

26th Middlesex

2/2/2017

Joan B.  Lovely

Second Essex

2/3/2017

Jennifer L. Flanagan

Worcester and Middlesex

2/3/2017

Julian Cyr

Cape and Islands

2/3/2017


SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1550        FILED ON: 1/20/2017

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 237

By Mr. DiDomenico, a petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 237) of Sal N. DiDomenico, Ruth B. Balser, Jay R. Kaufman, Marjorie C. Decker and other members of the General Court for legislation to support healthy development among preschoolers.  Education.

 

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

 

_______________

In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)

_______________

 

An Act to support healthy development among preschoolers.

 

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:
 

SECTION 1. Subsection (c) of section 11 of chapter 15D  of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after the second sentence  the following sentences: - 

On or before January 1 2018, the Department shall develop performance specification standards for prohibiting or severely limiting the use of suspension and expulsion for use only as a last resort in extraordinary circumstances where there is a serious safety threat that cannot be reduced or eliminated by the provision of reasonable program modifications.

The standards shall at minimum include 1) benchmarks and goals for supporting children’s social emotional and behavioral development to include reducing the use of exclusion as a disciplinary tool and for eliminating disparities in the use of suspension and expulsion  2) engagement steps to be taken with the child and parent or guardian prior to suspension or expulsion 3) requirements for communicating discipline policies including suspension and expulsion policies to staff, families and community partners. 4) specifications for achieving performance standards which, reward and incentivize programs to access technical assistance to support ongoing development of staff and teacher skills for supporting children’s social emotional and behavioral development, reducing disparities and limiting the use of suspension and expulsion.