§ 403.6. Unsafe school choice option.
(a) Requirement of the NCLB. The Department adopts these standards as required by the Unsafe School Choice Option provision of section 9532 of the NCLB (Section 9532) (20 U.S.C.A. § 7912).
(b) Definition. For purposes of this section, ‘‘local educational agency’’ or ‘‘LEA’’ means a school district, an area vocational-technical school, an intermediate unit or a charter school.
(c) Student opportunity to transfer.
(1) Victim of a violent criminal offense.
(i) Except as provided as follows, a student who becomes a victim of a violent criminal offense while in or on the grounds of the public elementary or secondary school that the student attends, shall be offered the opportunity to transfer to a safe public school within the LEA, including a charter school.
(ii) For a student victim to be entitled to transfer to another school under this chapter, the violent criminal offense first must be reported to law enforcement authorities by the student, the student’s parent or guardian, or school officials.
(iii) A student victim (or the student’s parent or guardian) may apply to the LEA to transfer to another school within 30 calendar days after the incident is reported to school authorities.
(2) Student who attends a persistently dangerous school.
(i) Except as provided as follows, a student who attends a persistently dangerous school shall be offered the opportunity to transfer to a safe public school within the LEA, including a charter school.
(ii) A student who attends a persistently dangerous school may apply to transfer at any time while the school maintains that designation.
(d) Responsibilities of LEAs.
(1) Toward victims of violent criminal offenses.
(i) Within 10 calendar days of receiving notice of the violent criminal offense, the LEA shall notify the student victim that the student has the right to transfer to a safe public elementary or secondary school within the LEA, including a public charter school.
(ii) The notification and offer to transfer shall state that no student is required to transfer to another school.
(iii) Upon receipt of an application to transfer, the LEA shall transfer the student as soon as possible, and shall transfer the student within 10 calendar days after receiving the application.
(iv) When considering a student’s request to transfer to another school, the LEA shall take into account the particular needs of the student and the parent.
(v) To the extent possible, the LEA shall allow the student to transfer to a school that is making adequate yearly progress, and one that is not identified as being in school improvement, corrective action or restructuring.
(vi) A charter school only has to accept a student who meets its admission criteria if space is available.
(vii) If there is not another safe school within the LEA to which students may transfer, the LEA is encouraged, but not required, to establish an agreement with a neighboring LEA to accept the transfer of students.
(2) Toward students who attend a persistently dangerous school.
(i) Under the act of June 30, 1995 (P. L. 220, No. 26) know as the Pennsylvania’s Safe Schools Act, all school entities as defined by the act shall report to the Department incidents involving acts of violence; possession of a weapon; or the possession, use, or sale of a controlled substance, alcohol or tobacco by any person on school property or at school-sponsored events or on school transportation to and from school or school-sponsored activities.
(ii) Within 10 school days of receiving notification by the Department, an LEA shall notify the parent or legal guardian of each student who attends the school that the Department has identified the school as persistently dangerous.
(iii) The LEA shall offer the students who attend the school the opportunity to transfer to a safe public school, including a charter school, within the LEA.
(iv) The notification and offer to transfer shall state that no student is required to transfer to another school.
(v) Upon receipt of an application to transfer, the LEA shall transfer the student within 30 calendar days.
(vi) When considering a student’s request to transfer to another school, the LEA shall take into account the particular needs of the student and the parent.
(vii) To the extent possible, the LEA shall allow the student to transfer to a school that is making adequate yearly progress, and one that is not identified as being in school improvement, corrective action or restructuring.
(viii) A charter school only has to accept a student who meets its admission criteria if space is available.
(ix) If there is not another safe school within the LEA to which students may transfer, the LEA is encouraged, but not required, to establish an agreement with a neighboring LEA to accept the transfer of students.
(x) The LEA shall submit a corrective action plan to the Department within 30 calendar days of receiving notification that a school has been identified as persistently dangerous.
(xi) The LEA shall receive approval from the Department for its corrective action plan and shall implement all steps contained in its corrective action plan within the time periods specified in that plan.
(xii) After the Department has notified an LEA that a school is no longer identified as a persistently dangerous school, the LEA is encouraged to permit students who transferred to complete their education at their new school. LEAs may not require students to return to their original school if the students are enrolled in a charter school.
(e) Responsibilities of Department.
(1) The Department will identify those schools that meet or exceed the criteria for a persistently dangerous school by analyzing the Annual Report on School Violence and Weapons Possession (PDE-360). In identifying persistently dangerous schools, the Department will use the most recent data available to it from the reporting LEA, and will take all reasonable steps to verify that the data is valid and reliable.
(2) After review and verification of PDE-360 data, the Department will promptly inform an LEA when any of its schools meets the definition of persistently dangerous school.
(3) The Department will provide technical assistance to the LEA in developing a corrective action plan. The Department will review proposed corrective action plans submitted by LEAs and approve suitable corrective action plans.
(4) After approval of the corrective action plan, the Department will conduct a site visit to each persistently dangerous school to assess the school’s progress in implementing the plan. If no significant improvement is observed, the Department may require the LEA to submit a revised corrective action plan for that school.
(5) The Department will reassess a school’s designation as persistently dangerous at the end of the school year during which its corrective action plan is completed.
(6) During the reassessment described in this section, the Department will remove the designation if the school no longer meets the definition of persistently dangerous school.
Source The provisions of this § 403.6 adopted June 27, 2003, effective June 28, 2003, 33 Pa.B. 2980.
No part of the information on this site may be reproduced for profit or sold for profit.
This material has been drawn directly from the official Pennsylvania Code full text database. Due to the limitations of HTML or differences in display capabilities of different browsers, this version may differ slightly from the official printed version.
