N.Y. Education Law § 4358: Protection of pupils

§ 4358. Protection of pupils. The department shall:

(a) Promulgate regulations concerning standards for the protection of

children in residential care from reportable incidents in accordance

with this section and article eleven of the social services law,

including procedures for:

(i) consistent with appropriate collective bargaining agreements and

applicable provisions of the civil service law, the review and

evaluation of the backgrounds of and the information supplied by any

person applying to be an employee, a volunteer or consultant, which

shall include but not be limited to the following requirements: that the

applicant set forth his or her employment history, provide personal and

employment references and relevant experiential and educational

information, and sign a sworn statement indicating whether the

applicant, to the best of his or her knowledge, has ever been convicted

of a crime in this state or any other jurisdiction;

(ii) establishing, for employees, relevant minimal experiential and

educational qualifications, consistent with appropriate collective

bargaining agreements and applicable provisions of the civil service

law;

(iii) assuring adequate and appropriate supervision of employees,

volunteers and consultants;

(iv) demonstrating by a residential facility or program that

appropriate action is taken to assure the safety of the child who is

alleged to have been subjected to a reportable incident in a report to

the vulnerable persons' central register in accordance with section four

hundred ninety-two of the social services law as well as other children

in care, immediately upon notification that such a report of an

allegation of a reportable incident has been made;

(v) removing a child when it is determined that there is risk to such

child if he or she continues to remain within a facility or program; and

(vi) appropriate preventive and remedial action to be taken including

legal actions, consistent with appropriate collective bargaining

agreements and applicable provisions of the civil service law.

Such standards shall also establish as a priority requirements that:

(A) subject to the amounts appropriated therefor, administrators,

employees, volunteers and consultants receive training in at least the

following: child abuse prevention and identification, safety and

security procedures, the principles of child development, the

characteristics of children in care and techniques of group and child

management including crisis intervention, the laws, regulations and

procedures governing the protection of children from reportable

incidents, and other appropriate topics, provided however, that the

department may exempt administrators and consultants from such

requirements upon demonstration of substantially equivalent knowledge or

experience; and

(B) subject to the amounts appropriated therefor, children receive

instruction, consistent with their age, needs and circumstances as well

as the needs and circumstances of the facility, in techniques and

procedures which will enable such children to protect themselves from

reportable incidents.

The department shall take all reasonable and necessary actions to

assure that employees, volunteers and consultants in residential

facilities and programs are kept apprised on a current basis of all

department policies and procedures relating to the protection of

children from reportable incidents and shall monitor and supervise the

provision of training to such administrators, employees, volunteers,

children and consultants. Regulations and standards developed pursuant

to this section shall, to the extent possible, be consistent with those

promulgated by other state agencies for such purposes;

(vii) consistent with applicable collective bargaining agreements,

assuring that an individual who has committed a category one offense, as

defined in paragraph (a) of subdivision four of section four hundred

ninety-three of the social services law, that is included on the

vulnerable persons' central register is not hired or otherwise used in

any position in which such individual would have regular and substantial

contact with a service recipient in any program described in paragraph

(e) of subdivision four of section four hundred eighty-eight of the

social services law.

(b) Provide for the development and implementation of a plan of

prevention and remediation with respect to a substantiated report of

abuse or neglect. Such action shall include: (i) within ten days of

receipt of such a substantiated report, development and implementation

of a plan of prevention and remediation to be taken with respect to a

custodian or the residential facility in order to assure the continued

health and safety of children and to provide for the prevention of

future acts constituting reportable incidents; and (ii) development and

implementation of a plan of prevention and remediation, in the event an

investigation of a report of an allegation of abuse or neglect

determines that a preponderance of the evidence of such allegation

exists and such substantiated allegation may be attributed in whole or

in part to noncompliance by the residential facility or program with

provisions of this chapter or regulations of the department applicable

to the operation of such residential facility or program. Any plan of

prevention and remediation required to be developed pursuant to this

subdivision by a facility supervised by the department shall be

submitted to and approved by the department in accordance with time

limits established by regulations of the department. Implementation of

the plan shall be monitored by the department. In reviewing the

continued qualifications of a residential facility or program for an

operating certificate, the department shall evaluate such facility's

compliance with plans of prevention and remediation developed and

implemented pursuant to this subdivision.