ALBANY, N.Y. — Proposed state legislation is making progress in the Senate that would better protect children from sexual abuse and sexual misconduct at schools.
Senator Patrick Gallivan introduced the bill following an explosive report that sexual misconduct went on for years between students and staff at Buffalo's private Nichols School.
Gallivan said on Saturday the explosive report revealed a startling loophole in the laws that govern sexual misconduct reporting in educational settings.
“I think it was a surprise to everybody when we saw the story about Nichols and the kids that had been victimized over the years that private schools had no obligation to report to authorities allegations of abuse,” he said.
As state law stands right now, private schools are not explicitly named in the current education law that details how to report suspected child abuse in schools.
"We hear all the time about holding the perpetrators accountable, and we should do that. But beyond that, we should be working to prevent this from happening. And one of the ways to prevent it from happening, in my view, is to ensure that things are properly reporting and investigated,” Gallivan said.
The proposed law has three amendments to current abuse reporting laws.
One is to include private schools, BOCES, charter schools, and more in the types of schools obligated to report abuse to law enforcement.
Two is to expand who has a responsibility to report alleged abuse to include therapists, speech pathologists, teachers' aides, school resources officers, and drivers contracted by school districts.
Three requires teachers and administrators at private and charter schools to complete training on identifying and reporting abuse.
“It doesn't preclude anybody from making a report; It doesn't stop anybody from reporting directly, but if they don't report directly, and they follow the mechanism, essentially the chain of command in the school district, the district is obligated to make the report,” Gallivan said.
Gallivan’s proposed bill has already passed in the Children and Families senate committee. Senators Michael Ranzenhofer and Chris Jacobs also co-sponsor the bill.