Bill Text: NJ A3258 | 2024-2025 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Requires school districts to provide instruction on interacting with law enforcement as part of New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Social Studies.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 2-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-09 - Introduced, Referred to Assembly Education Committee [A3258 Detail]
Download: New_Jersey-2024-A3258-Introduced.html
STATE OF NEW JERSEY
221st LEGISLATURE
PRE-FILED FOR INTRODUCTION IN THE 2024 SESSION
Sponsored by:
Assemblyman BENJIE E. WIMBERLY
District 35 (Bergen and Passaic)
Co-Sponsored by:
Assemblywoman Tucker
SYNOPSIS
Requires school districts to provide instruction on interacting with law enforcement as part of New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Social Studies.
CURRENT VERSION OF TEXT
Introduced Pending Technical Review by Legislative Counsel.
An Act concerning the New Jersey Student Learning Standards and supplementing chapter 35 of Title 18A of the New Jersey Statutes.
Be It Enacted by the Senate and General Assembly of the State of New Jersey:
1. Beginning with the 2018-2019 school year, each school district shall incorporate instruction on interacting with a law enforcement official in a manner marked by mutual cooperation and respect, and on the rights of individuals when interacting with a law enforcement official, as part of the district's implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Social Studies. The instruction shall be included in an appropriate place in the curriculum of elementary school, middle school, and high school students. The instruction shall provide students with information on:
a. the role and responsibilities of a law enforcement official in providing for public safety; and
b. an individual's responsibilities to comply with a directive from a law enforcement official and an individual's rights under law in interacting with a law enforcement official.
The Commissioner of Education shall appoint an advisory committee to assist in the development of a curriculum for the implementation of the instructional requirement. The advisory committee shall include one representative of each of the following organizations selected by that organization: the New Jersey State Policemen's Benevolent Association, the State Fraternal Order of Police, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey, the NAACP New Jersey State Conference, the National Organization of Black Law Enforcement Executives, the New Jersey Institute for Social Justice, the New Jersey Council for Social Studies, the New Jersey Education Association, and the American Federation of Teachers - New Jersey.
The curriculum shall consist of two parts, with one part that includes age-appropriate instruction for students enrolled in grades kindergarten through four, and one part designed for the more rigorous instruction of students enrolled in grades five through 12.
2. This act shall take effect immediately.
STATEMENT
This bill requires school districts to provide instruction on interacting with law enforcement in a manner marked by mutual cooperation and respect, and on the rights of individuals when interacting with a law enforcement official, as part of the implementation of the New Jersey Student Learning Standards in Social Studies, beginning with the 2018-2019 school year. The instruction must provide students with information on: the role and responsibilities of a law enforcement official in providing for public safety; an individual's responsibilities to comply with a directive from a law enforcement official; and an individual's rights under law in interacting with a law enforcement official.
The bill directs the Commissioner of Education to appoint an advisory committee to assist in the development of a curriculum for the implementation of the instructional requirement, and details the organizations that are to serve on the advisory committee. The bill specifies that the curriculum must consist of two parts, with one part that includes age-appropriate instruction for students enrolled in grades kindergarten through four, and one part designed for the more rigorous instruction of students enrolled in grades five through 12.
