BILL NUMBER: S5025D
SPONSOR: JACKSON
 
TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the education law, in relation to updating provisions
relating to dignity for all students
 
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL:
This legislation amends and updates the dignity for all students act to
include provisions relating to support materials, student suicide
prevention, cyberbullying prevention, digital citizenship, and media
literacy and reporting requirements.
 
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS:
Section 1 amends section 10 of the education law to add discussion of
harassment and discrimination on the internet or in school.
Section 2 amends Education Law § 11(1), (2), (7) & (8) to amend certain
definitions and adds a new subdivision 11, 12 and 13 to provide defi-
nitions for bullying, coercive control and gaslighting.
Section 3 amends Education Law § 12(1) to add school board members or
trustees and school coaches to the list of people who may not harass,
bully or coercively control students.
Section 4 amends Education Law § 13 to streamline the incident reporting
process, raise awareness and understanding of the Act, include a code of
conduct for coaches, and add provisions on the safe, responsible use of
the internet.
Section 5 makes technical amendments to Education Law § 14.
Section 6 amends section 15 of the education law to amend subsection 1
and add subsections 2 and 3 regarding the content of the commissioner's
reports, their use, and delivery of the reports to the legislature every
two years on or before the first day of November.
Section 7 amends Education Law § 16 to add protection for people who
report harassment, bullying or coercive control by another student or
school staff.
Section 8 amends the education law to add new article 2-B regarding
student suicide prevention.
Section 9 amends section 801-a of the education law regarding dignity,
respect for others, tolerance, digital citizenship, and media literacy.
Section 10 amends section 2801 of the education law regarding the appli-
cation of the relevant provisions to bullying on or off school property,
at school functions, and cyberbullying, and directs schools to develop a
specific code of conduct for coaches.
Section 11 amends section 3006-a of the education law regarding continu-
ing education/professional development in digital citizenship, media
literacy, dignity for all students, and student suicide prevention.
Section 12 establishes the effective date.
 
JUSTIFICATION:
The need to improve civility and kindness in social interactions at
schools, at school functions and on the internet remains a priority.
Tension and distress in adult lives continues to spill into the lives of
our students and their school interactions, as reports of bullying, a
youth mental health crisis and increased youth suicide rates continue to
make headlines. The Dignity for All Students Act, which initially became
effective at the end of 2013, was designed to help prevent
bullying/harassment/discrimination in public schools by identifying and
addressing such behaviors at their earliest stages.
The Department of Education has developed model policies, procedures and
guidelines to assist school districts in their endeavors. Moreover,
schools, students and parents alike can find a range of resources at The
New York State Center for School Safety at
https://www.nyscfss.org/dignity-forall-students-act-resources. Nonethe-
less, after twelve years, the Act is not universally known or understood
by students and now needs modernizing and tweaking. This bill increases
awareness and understanding of the Act by requiring an annual presenta-
tion about it at a student assembly. It also clarifies and expands the
definitions regarding relevant disruptive behaviors, clarifies the
parties to which the Act applies, provides for education concerning
suicide prevention, intervention and postvention, enhances staff train-
ing and education concerning the Act, suicide prevention, digital citi-
zenship and media literacy, directs schools to add a code of conduct
specific to school coaches to their general code of conduct, and
strengthens reporting requirements to enable school districts to better
track behavioral and suicide trends within their own school communities.
 
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY:
2025:A.7687B - Referred to Education/S5025C - Referred to Finance
2023-2024: A.10552 - Referred to Education/S.8380 - Referred to Finance
 
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS:
None.
 
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect on July 1, 2027.

Statutes affected:
S5025: 10 education law, 14 education law, 14(5) education law, 15 education law, 801-a education law, 2801 education law, 2801(1) education law, 3006-a education law, 3006-a(2) education law
S5025A: 10 education law, 12 education law, 12(1) education law, 14 education law, 14(5) education law, 15 education law, 16 education law, 801-a education law, 2801 education law, 2801(1) education law, 3006-a education law, 3006-a(2) education law
S5025B: 10 education law, 12 education law, 12(1) education law, 14 education law, 14(5) education law, 15 education law, 16 education law, 801-a education law, 2801 education law, 2801(1) education law, 3006-a education law, 3006-a(2) education law
S5025C: 10 education law, 12 education law, 12(1) education law, 14 education law, 14(5) education law, 15 education law, 16 education law, 801-a education law, 2801 education law, 2801(1) education law, 3006-a education law, 3006-a(2) education law
S5025D: 10 education law, 12 education law, 12(1) education law, 15 education law, 16 education law, 801-a education law, 3006-a education law, 3006-a(2) education law