SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1359        FILED ON: 1/17/2019

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 285

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts

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PRESENTED BY:

Barry R. Finegold

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

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PETITION OF:

SENATE DOCKET, NO. 1359        FILED ON: 1/17/2019

SENATE  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  No. 285

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.

(b) The department shall, in consultation with state agencies, require that each school serving students in grades 6-12 has a school-based threat assessment team, as defined in this paragraph, that is trained and certified in school threat assessment and is provided with a model threat assessment policy.

The department shall develop and provide a model threat assessment policy 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.

Approved threat assessment trainings must be evidence-based programs that teach how to identify, assess, and respond to threats of violence and self-harm, including identification of threats, signs and behaviors that could result in harm towards self or others; evaluation of the seriousness of the threat or danger it poses to others; intervention to reduce risk of violence; and follow-up to assess intervention results.

Each school serving students in grades 6-12 shall identify a school-based threat assessment team, within each school building, responsible for completing an evidence-based threat assessment training meeting the requirements of this paragraph. School-based threat assessment teams should be multidisciplinary, whenever possible, and may include administrators, mental health professionals, school resource officers, and other professionals.

School-based threat assessment teams shall complete retraining every 3 years in an evidence-based threat assessment training meeting the requirements of this paragraph.

Each school district shall submit to the department annual certification that each school-based threat assessment team in the district has been trained in an approved threat assessment training within the last three years, including the date of the training.

The department shall make a list of approved, evidence-based threat assessment trainings, including no-cost programming, publicly available on its website.

(c) The department shall require that each school serving students in grades 6-12 provides students at least one hour of evidence-based suicide awareness and prevention training each school year.

The department shall develop a list of evidence-based trainings and materials, including no-cost programming, to fulfill the requirements of this paragraph. Trainings shall, at a minimum, teach students how to identify the signs and signals of depression, suicide and self-injury in themselves and peers, the importance of seeking help for self and peers, and the process for seeking such help.

The department shall make a list of evidence-based suicide prevention trainings, including no-cost programming, publicly available on its website.

(d) The department shall require that each school serving students in grades 6-12 provides students at least one hour of evidence-based youth violence prevention training each school year.

The department shall develop a list of evidence-based trainings and materials, including no-cost programming, to fulfill the requirements of this paragraph. Trainings shall, at a minimum, teach students how to identify observable warning signs and signals of an individual who may be a threat to themselves or others; the importance of taking threats seriously and seeking help; and the steps they can take to report dangerous, violent, or unlawful activity.

The department shall make the list of evidence-based youth violence prevention trainings, including no-cost programming, publicly available on its website.

(e)  The department shall require that each school serving students in grades 6-12 provides students at least one hour of evidence-based social inclusion training each school year.

The department shall develop a list of evidence-based trainings and materials that fulfill the requirements of this paragraph. Trainings shall, at a minimum, teach students what social isolation is and how to identify social isolation in others; the importance of taking social isolation seriously and seeking help for peers; and how to use strategies to be more socially inclusive in the classroom and community and to establish connections with peers.

The department shall make the list of evidence-based social inclusion trainings, including no-cost programing, publicly available on its website.

(f) The department shall require each school serving students in grades 6-12 to designate a student-led violence prevention club that is open to all members of the student body and has at least one identified adult advisor.

The student violence prevention club shall, at a minimum, implement and sustain suicide and violence prevention and social inclusion trainings and awareness activities required by the department and foster opportunities for student leadership development.

(g) The department shall, in collaboration with other agencies, make available to all schools a statewide Anonymous Reporting Program. Said program shall enable any person to report anonymously a dangerous, violent or unlawful activity which occurs, or is threatened on, school property or which relates to an enrolled student or school personnel.

The department shall identify and compile a state database that includes, at a minimum, the following identified individuals for the purposes of implementing and coordinating the delivery of the Anonymous Reporting Program: a point of contact within each local law enforcement department and a primary point of contact within each school who is responsible for managing the school-based threat assessment team as defined in this section.

To fulfill the requirements of this section, the department shall operate a hotline, multilingual crisis center, website, and mobile phone application to receive anonymous reports through the Anonymous Reporting Program. Said program response shall be staffed by individuals with evidence-based counseling and crisis intervention training.

The Anonymous Reporting Program shall, at a minimum, meet the following requirements: (i) support 24/7 anonymous reporting; (ii) promptly forward reported information to the appropriate school and law enforcement agencies, as applicable, and certain other persons as determined by the department; (iii) support a coordinated response by schools and law enforcement to an identified crisis when response by both parties is to be reasonably expected; (iv) require and certify the training of school-based threat assessment teams in each school, comprised of at least 3 staff members, to receive notice of any report submitted to the Anonymous Reporting Program concerning the school, school personnel, or an enrolled student; (v) require and certify the training of law enforcement in each local department to receive notice of any report submitted to the Anonymous Reporting Program that requires law enforcement response; (vi) promote public awareness and education about the Anonymous Reporting Program and its reporting methods, prior to its launch; (vii) implement an evidence-based student violence prevention training that teaches students how to identify observable warning signs and signals of an individual who may be a threat to themselves or others, the importance of taking threats seriously and seeking help, and how to report a threat using the Anonymous Reporting Program; and (viii) be in compliance with the Federal Educational Rights and Privacy Act, 20 U.S.C. § 1232g, and relevant state laws.

In the first year in which an Anonymous Reporting Program is implemented, the department shall require all school districts to submit a report containing the total number of disciplinary actions in the previous 12 months, disaggregated by school, type of disciplinary action, as well as the gender and race of the student subject to the disciplinary action.

Each year following implementation of the Anonymous Reporting Program, the department shall require all school districts to submit annual reports reflecting the total number of anonymous tips received and total number of disciplinary actions taken. Reports shall include, at a minimum: (1) the total number of reports received for the previous school year; (2) the total number of reports received since the program began, disaggregated by school, and for each school (i) reports by type; (ii) the method by which the report was received; (iii) the total number of false reports received; (iv) any other information the department deems appropriate; and (3) the total number of responses, including disciplinary actions and mental wellness referrals, disaggregated by type as well as the gender and race of the student subject to the disciplinary action or referral.

False reports by anyone age 18 and older, including but not limited to reports targeting students in any protected class identified in any policy of the department, district or school or in federal or state law, shall be a misdemeanor if the person knowingly or intentionally makes a false report to the Anonymous Reporting Program.

If a report filed with the Anonymous Reporting Program is determined to be a false report, information about the subject of the false report shall be immediately removed from the subject student's record, including records held by the district, school, and law enforcement.

(h) No person shall have a cause of action for loss or damage caused by an act or omission resulting from the implementation of this section or resulting from the training or lack of training required by this section.

(i) The training or lack of training required by this section shall not be construed to impose a specific duty of care.

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect 12 months from its enactment.

SECTION 3. The board of elementary and secondary education may promulgate regulations necessary to implement this act.