The Board of Education recognizes that because of their sustained contact with school-aged children, employees are in an excellent position to identify abused or maltreated children and refer them for treatment and protection.
Pursuant to applicable law, any school official or employee who has reasonable cause to know or suspect that a child has been subjected to abuse or maltreatment will immediately report this to the Building Principal who will report the case to the New York State Child Abuse and Maltreatment Register, as required by law.
The report shall be made by telephone or by telephone facsimile machine on a form supplied by the Commissioner of Social Services. A written report shall be made within forty-eight hours to the appropriate local child protective service, and to the statewide Central Register for Child Abuse and Maltreatment.
School employees and officials will not contact the child's family or any other person to determine the cause of the suspected abuse or maltreatment. It is not the responsibility of the school official or employee to prove that the child has been abused or maltreated.
Any school official or employee who has cause to suspect that the death of any child is a result of child abuse or maltreatment must report that fact to the appropriate medical examiner or coroner.
In accordance with the law, any employee who willfully fails to report an instance of suspected child abuse or maltreatment may be guilty of a Class A misdemeanor and may be held liable for the damages caused by the failure to report. The law grants employees and other persons who report instances of child abuse immunity in good faith from any liability that might otherwise be incurred.
The district will cooperate to the extent possible with authorized child protective services workers in investigations of alleged child abuse.
The school district shall maintain an ongoing training program which will address the identification and reporting of child abuse and maltreatment. Attendance at sessions of this training program shall be required of all district employees who come in contact with students. Attendance records shall be kept, and notations will be made in personnel files as to the dates of attendance.
The Superintendent shall develop, with input from appropriate personnel, a plan for implementation of such a training program, to be approved by the Board. In addition, the policy and regulations will be included in all employee handbooks and distributed annually to all personnel who are not covered under existing handbooks. The Superintendent will prepare and implement all regulations as are necessary to accomplish the intent of this policy.
A copy of this policy, along with the administrative regulations explaining the reporting requirements, shall be distributed to all members of the professional staff.
November 12, 1992
11 Boice Road
P. O. Box 2033
Hyde Park, NY 12538
(845) 229-4000
For Emergency Information (845) 229-4001
District Fax: 229-4056
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