Amendment #88 to H4860

Protecting Students From Profiling

Ms. Elugardo of Boston moves to amend the bill, as amended, by striking out section 65, in its entirety, and inserting in place thereof the following section:-

SECTION 65.  Section 37L of chapter 71 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2018 Official Edition, is hereby amended by replacing the third paragraph the following paragraphs:-

"Supervisors who receive such a weapon report shall file it with the superintendent of said school, who shall file copies of said weapon report only with the department of children and families, the office of student services or its equivalent in any school district, and the local school committee. Said superintendent and representative from the department of children and families, together with a representative from the office of student services or its equivalent, shall arrange an assessment of the student involved in said weapon report. Said student shall be referred to a counseling program; provided, however, that said counseling shall be in accordance with acceptable standards as set forth by the board of education. Upon completion of a counseling session, a follow-up assessment shall be made of said student by those involved in the initial assessment. Such weapon report shall not be shared with the police department or the Chief of Police unless it is related to a school-based arrest or citation, or court referral pursuant to the criteria in Section 37P(b).

School department personnel, public and private contractors working in the schools not considered school department personnel, school resource officers as defined in section 37P, special service officers authorized under Chapter 282 of the Laws of 1898, and any other individual deputized with special police powers or other powers to function as law enforcement or security in schools or otherwise endowed with the ability to create law enforcement records, shall not disclose to a law enforcement officer or agency or submit to a database or system that tracks gang affiliation or involvement, any information relating to a student or a family member obtained through any method, including, but not limited to, reports, observations or conversations with or about a student or from its databases or other record-keeping systems including, but is not be limited to: (i) immigration status; (ii) citizenship; (iii) neighborhood of residence; (iv) religion; (v) national origin; (vi) ethnicity; (vii) native or spoken language; (viii) suspected, alleged, or confirmed gang involvement, or affiliation; (ix) participation in school activities, extracurricular activities outside of school, sports teams or school clubs or organizations; (x) degrees, honors or awards; and (xi) post-high school plans. Nothing in this paragraph shall prohibit the sharing of information for the purposes of completing a report pursuant to section 51A of chapter 119, filing a weapon report with the local chief of police pursuant to the third paragraph of this section, or filing reports related to school-based arrests, citations or court referrals pursuant to the criteria in section 37P(b).”

Additional co-sponsor(s) added to Amendment #88 to H4860

Protecting Students From Profiling