Bill Text: NY A08438 | 2023-2024 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Directs the board of education or the board of trustees of each school district shall establish a policy and adopt procedures permitting the district to confer a diploma on a student posthumously if, at the time of death, such student had completed the eleventh grade class of a public school in the district and was enrolled or expected to be enrolled in the twelfth grade class within the same public school district the following school year.

Spectrum: Slight Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-2)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-01-03 - referred to education [A08438 Detail]

Download: New_York-2023-A08438-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8438

                               2023-2024 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                    December 29, 2023
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. WOERNER -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee on Education

        AN ACT to amend the education law, in relation to posthumous awarding of
          high school diplomas

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1.  Section  3204 of the education law is amended by adding a
     2  new subdivision 6 to read as follows:
     3    6. Posthumous awarding of diplomas. The  board  of  education  or  the
     4  board  of  trustees of each school district shall establish a policy and
     5  adopt procedures permitting the  district  to  confer  a  diploma  on  a
     6  student  posthumously  if,  at  the  time  of  death,  such  student had
     7  completed the eleventh grade class of a public school  in  the  district
     8  and  was  enrolled or expected to be enrolled in the twelfth grade class
     9  within the same public school district the following  school  year.  The
    10  policy and procedures shall address the district's coordination with the
    11  parents  or  guardians of the deceased student concerning the method for
    12  conferring such a diploma, including but not limited to, site of presen-
    13  tation, identity of a proxy recipient, family  attendance  at  the  high
    14  school  graduation  ceremony,  and  scope  of recognition and/or partic-
    15  ipation, if any, at the  high  school  graduation  ceremony,  and  shall
    16  further  provide  for  annual  written  notice to all students and their
    17  parents or guardians about the school district's policy  and  procedures
    18  adopted in accordance with this subdivision. Nothing in this subdivision
    19  shall require a school district to issue a diploma before the graduation
    20  date  of  the deceased student's high school graduating class or require
    21  the family of a deceased student to attend  or  participate  in  a  high
    22  school graduation ceremony or related activities.  Diplomas conferred in
    23  accordance  with  this  subdivision  shall not be applied toward student
    24  graduation counts or for any other purpose of federal or state  account-
    25  ability data collection.
    26    §  2.  This  act  shall take effect on the sixtieth day after it shall
    27  have become a law.

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13863-01-3