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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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CONTACT: Victoria L. Stanish |
State Rep. Jennifer Mann |
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Allentown City Delegation introduces bills to protect students
HARRISBURG, April 16 – The members of the Allentown City Delegation in the state legislature held a news conference today to discuss a package of bills they are introducing that would help make Pennsylvania’s schools safer for children.
The Allentown Delegation consists of state Sen. Patrick M. Browne, R-Lehigh/Northampton/Monroe, and state Reps. Jennifer Mann, D-Lehigh, Karen Beyer, R-Lehigh/Northampton, Steve Samuelson, D-Lehigh/Northampton, and Joe Brennan, D-Lehigh/Northampton.
The lawmakers said they are introducing the bills because they want to improve schools’ responses to violence and crime, standardize reporting procedures, offer parents more assistance with their legal rights, and require additional accountability with school district administrators and parents.
This package of bills follows alleged criminal incidents that occurred at Central Elementary School in the Allentown School District earlier this year.
Mann and Browne have introduced identical legislation in the House and Senate (H.B. 1055 and S.B. 112), which would strengthen memorandums of understanding, agreements between schools and law enforcement agencies that set procedures to be followed after a criminal incident.
MOUs would have to be filed with the state Department of Education annually. Superintendents and principals would also have to establish MOUs with local law enforcement and report violent crimes. Failure to perform any of these actions would result in a $2,500 fine for the first offense, $3,500 for the second offense and $5,000 for the third and subsequent offenses.
The legislation would also create an advisory committee, comprised of a police chief, school superintendent, school principal, district attorney, solicitor of a school district and an in-school probation officer. The committee would decide which types of incidents must be reported and create a standardized form for reporting them. Some of the offenses that would need to be reported include possession of a weapon on school property, reckless endangerment, terroristic threats, possession or use of drugs or alcohol, sexual harassment and assault.
“We have been reviewing the current requirements under the ‘Safe Schools’ section of the state School Code to determine what kind of procedures would be necessary to prevent these crimes from being repeated and to establish penalties that would be enforced if the procedures were not followed,” Mann said.
Beyer, a former Saucon Valley school board member, said ways to foster cooperation between the different groups involved are also very important to improve safety for students. She has introduced H.B. 1077, which would expand the Office of the Safe School Advocate, which currently operates only in Philadelphia, to be able to participate in districts in smaller cities like Allentown. The bill would also appropriate $2 million to be used for the expansion.
“The establishment of this office in cities like Allentown would help coordinate efforts between the state, law enforcement and school districts to help keep kids safe,” Beyer said.
Brennan stated, “We have to be able to place our trust in school officials and be assured that they’re doing everything they can to protect students while they’re in their care.”
Mann is also sponsoring H.B. 1067, which would require a transfer of student’s disciplinary records when the student is moving to a new school within a school district. Parents would also be required to notify the new school if their child has a criminal history. Failure to disclose the history would cause the child to be prohibited from being enrolled in the new school.
“This bill would help school officials be prepared and maintain an orderly and safe school environment while making parents more responsible for their children’s actions,” Mann said.
“This package of legislation would provide clear guidelines so that full disclosure of an incident is made and so that both parents and school officials have all the necessary information they need – and it would hopefully help prevent violent incidents from occurring in the first place.”
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