SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2665

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

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SENATE, April 27, 2020.

The committee on Education to whom was referred the petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 285) of Barry R. Finegold, Angelo J. Puppolo, Jr., Jason M. Lewis, Bruce E. Tarr and other members of the General Court  for legislation relative to safety and violence education for students (the SAVE Students Act); the petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 338) of Bruce E. Tarr, Ann-Margaret Ferrante and David Allen Robertson for legislation relative to school safety issues; and  the petition (accompanied by bill, Senate, No. 343) of Walter F. Timilty  for legislation relative to school safety and security, reports the accompanying bill (Senate, No. 2665).

For the committee,

Jason M. Lewis

        FILED ON: 2/4/2020

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 2665

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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In the One Hundred and Ninety-First General Court
(2019-2020)

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An Act relative to safety and violence education for students (the SAVE Students Act).

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. Chapter 71 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition, is hereby amended by inserting after section 97 the following section:-

Section 98. (a) As used in this section the following words shall, unless the context clearly requires otherwise, have the following meanings:--

"Department'', the department of elementary and secondary education.

“Evidence-based”, a program or practice that (i) demonstrates a statistically significant effect on relevant outcomes based on (1) strong evidence from not less than 1 well-designed and well-implemented experimental study; (2) moderate evidence from not less than 1 well-designed and well-implemented quasi-experimental study; or (3) promising evidence from not less than 1 well-designed and well-implemented correlational study with statistical controls for selection bias; or (ii) demonstrates a rationale based on high-quality research findings or positive evaluation that such program or practice is likely to improve relevant outcomes and includes ongoing efforts to examine the effects of the program or practice.

“School”, a school administered by a school department of a city or town or regional school district, a county agricultural school, a commonwealth charter school or Horace Mann charter school established pursuant to section 89, an educational collaborative established pursuant to section 4E of chapter 40, or an approved private day or residential school that accepts, through agreement with a school committee, a child requiring special education pursuant to section 10 of chapter 71B.

“Social Isolation”, a state in which a student engages in low relative frequencies of peer interactions, and experiences or perceives low levels of peer acceptance or high levels of peer rejection, which frequently excludes them from social interactions and relationships with friends, classmates, and members of the community.

“Social Inclusion”, a state in which all students are valued and feel that they have consistent opportunities to engage in meaningful activities and interactions with their friends, classmates, and members of the community regardless of their identity.

(b) The department shall develop a model threat assessment policy for schools serving students in grades 6-12 that, at minimum, (i) identifies the types of threatening behavior that may represent a physical threat to the school community; (ii) identifies members within the school community to whom threatening behavior should be reported and the steps to be taken thereafter; (iii) establishes guidelines ensuring that where a credible threat has been identified, the response is in conformance with any applicable state and school disciplinary policies and that no disciplinary action is applied disproportionately to students in any protected class identified in any policy of the department, district or school or in federal or state law; and (iv) establishes procedures and protocol for coordinating with local law enforcement, existing state reporting websites, and tip lines. The model policy shall take into account the requirements of Section 363 of Chapter 159 of the Acts of 2000 and Section 8A of chapter 69. The department shall make the model policy available to schools serving grades 6-12. Schools may, but are not required to, adopt the model policy.

(c) The department shall make a list of evidence-based threat assessment trainings publicly available on its website.

(d) The department shall make a list of evidence-based suicide awareness and prevention trainings publicly available on its website.

(e) The department shall make a list of evidence-based youth violence prevention trainings publicly available on its website.

(f) The department shall make a list of evidence-based social inclusion trainings publicly available on its website.

SECTION 2. The board of elementary and secondary education may promulgate regulations necessary to implement this act.