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For Immediate
Release
4/23/07
CONTACT:
Colleen Greer
717-787-6801
Piccola's School Violence Reporting Measure Endorsed
by the Senate
HARRISBURG – The State Senate approved legislation
today sponsored by Senator Jeffrey Piccola (R-15) that
would make it mandatory for the chief administrators
of the Commonwealth's schools to report criminal
activities to law enforcement officials or face
disciplinary action.
Senate Bill 112 requires
the chief administrators of public school districts,
vocational-technical schools, Intermediate Units, and
charter schools to form "memorandums of
understanding," or agreements, with local law
enforcement. These memorandums, or MOUs, will require
schools to immediately notify law enforcement in the
event of a crime committed on school property and will
outline the emergency response procedures for that
district or school.
The legislation includes
an additional requirement that school officials submit
their violence incident data to their chief of police,
who will have the authority to verify the accuracy of
the report before it is submitted to the Department of
Education. "Our police departments need to have the
authority to review the violence reports of schools in
their districts," Piccola explained. "Those school
officials who intentionally falsify reports will be
subject to criminal and professional sanctions."
In 2005, a Dauphin County
Grand Jury found serious problems including the fact
that school administrators failed to comply with the
reporting requirements of the Safe Schools Act and
failed to work cooperatively with local police to
respond to and prevent violence in a Dauphin County
School District. As a result, the Grand Jury called
upon the General Assembly to take immediate action to
address the deficiencies.
"The Grand Jury's report
found that school administrators failed to comply with
the reporting requirements of the Safe Schools Law and
failed to act cooperatively with our local police.
The serious discrepancies in the incidents of violence
reported by the school district and those reported by
the municipal police department were extremely
alarming. They were the result of a failure to comply
with the statutory duty to disclose incidents of
violence under the law," said Piccola.
"When the Grand Jury's
report was released in June of 2005, I had the
pleasure of working with Dauphin County District
Attorney Ed Marsico, chiefs of police throughout
Dauphin County, and the director of the Pennsylvania
Chiefs of Police Association to determine how we could
prevent the unacceptable conditions that were
discovered by the Grand Jury," Piccola said.
"The Senate's passage of
this legislation today marks an important milestone
for this Commonwealth by establishing relationships of
trust and constant communication between our police
and schools on a regular basis. This relationship
will result in a safe school environment for not only
our students, but also our administrators and
teachers," said Piccola.
"I believe that Senate
Bill 112 will go a long way to fostering and improving
the growth of these partnerships, especially in
situations where law enforcement and school
administrators are failing to work together
effectively," he added.
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