Enacts the "Tevyan Rowe child and young teen mental health community safety act"; directs boards of education to create policies, procedures, and guidelines for at-risk children and young teens who have demonstrated suicidal ideation, been victims of harassment or bullying, and/or who have eloped from school property; establishes a commission to evaluate the safety and security of children in primary and secondary public and private schools in this state.
A06495 would create the “Tevyan Rowe child and young teen mental health community safety act” in the Education Law. The bill defines harassment, bullying, and cyberbullying broadly, including conduct that affects a student’s educational performance or mental, emotional, or physical well-being, and it specifically recognizes protected characteristics such as race, disability, sexual orientation, gender, and related traits. It also defines “at-risk children or young teenagers” as students 17 and under who have a disability or identify as LGBTQ+ and who need mental or behavioral health support because of anxiety, trauma, bullying, abuse, suicidal ideation, or self-harm.
The bill requires every school district board of education to adopt policies, procedures, and guidelines for prevention, intervention, and postvention responses involving students who show suicidal ideation or self-harm, are victims of bullying or harassment, or wander or elope from school property. Those policies must be developed in coordination with pediatric mental and behavioral health providers, community health agencies, local law enforcement, and other relevant municipal agencies, and then distributed annually to school staff and certain local agencies. The commissioner of education would also establish an annual reporting process for districts, potentially using existing violent incident and bullying/discrimination reporting systems.
In addition, the bill creates a new commission on child and young teen mental health and community safety within the Education Department. The commission would examine school safety and security in public and private primary and secondary schools, look for disparities in mental health and behavioral health services, study the effects of COVID-19 on student mental health, identify racial and ethnic disparities in educational supports, and recommend changes to the PROS program so participants can access outside mental health care without losing eligibility. The commission would be appointed by state leaders and agency commissioners and would report its findings within one year.
The bill’s impact on state law would be to add a new article to the Education Law imposing new district-level planning, coordination, training, and reporting obligations related to student mental health and school safety, while also creating a state commission to study and recommend policy changes. It would affect school districts, school employees, local social services and law enforcement partners, and students—especially those considered at risk due to disability, LGBTQ+ status, bullying, or self-harm concerns.
There is no recorded vote or committee transcript in the provided material, so no formal legislative debate is available. Based on the bill text, the measure appears oriented toward student safety and mental health support, with an emphasis on coordinated intervention and equity. Potential points of contention include the breadth of the bullying/harassment definitions, the inclusion of LGBTQ+ and disability-related categories in the at-risk definition, the involvement of police and peace officers in school response planning, and the administrative burden of new reporting and coordination requirements on school districts.
The bill would amend the Education Law by adding a new article establishing statewide requirements for school district policies, procedures, and reporting related to student mental health, bullying, self-harm, and elopement from school property. It would also create a commission within the Education Department to study school safety, mental health disparities, COVID-19 impacts, and potential changes to the PROS program. The measure would directly affect school districts, the Education Department, and partner agencies such as mental health providers, social services, and law enforcement.
No committee transcript or vote history was provided, so there is no direct record of debate or roll-call sentiment. From the bill text and caption, the proposal appears generally supportive of student mental health, anti-bullying protections, and school safety planning. The overall framing is preventive and protective, with an emphasis on coordination among schools, health providers, and public safety agencies.
The main likely areas of contention are the scope of the mandated school policies and the breadth of the definitions of harassment, bullying, and at-risk students. Some may object to the inclusion of police and peace officers in school response protocols, while others may question the administrative and reporting burden on districts. The commission’s mandate to examine disparities, COVID-19 effects, and changes to the PROS program could also draw scrutiny if viewed as expanding state oversight or altering mental health service delivery.