SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1550 FILED ON: 1/20/2017
SENATE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . No. 237
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The Commonwealth of Massachusetts
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PRESENTED BY:
Sal N. DiDomenico
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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.
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PETITION OF:
Name: | District/Address: |
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Sal N. DiDomenico | Middlesex and Suffolk |
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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
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In the One Hundred and Ninetieth General Court
(2017-2018)
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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.