HARRISBURG, June 12 – This week, the House Education Committee approved a bill introduced by Majority Chair Peter Schweyer that would ensure Pennsylvania’s cyber charter schools verify the well-being of their students and perform regular wellness checks.

“Traditional, in-person schools, whether a public, private, brick-and-mortar charter school, or a parochial or religious school, have a support structure that exists to maintain a watchful presence on the children entrusted in their care,” Schweyer said. “This network of staff is required to report and identify concerns including signs of abuse, neglect, malnourishment and mental illness. It plays a critical role in safeguarding the health and wellbeing of countless students, and unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the roughly 65,000 Pennsylvania children enrolled in cyber charter education. Until now. The action we took this week is a major step toward making sure every kid has someone looking out for them.”

On Tuesday, Schweyer’s bill moved out of committee on a party line vote. According to Schweyer, his legislation would:

• Establish clear crisis triggers that mandate escalation with appropriate professionals and crisis teams when serious risks are identified;
• Require timely and appropriate communication with families, crisis teams, and relevant authorities as appropriate;
• Create state-level reporting requirements to ensure oversight, compliance, and accountability;
• Hold cyber charter schools accountable for failure to follow escalation protocols or report student wellness concerns in a timely manner;
• Provide regular and mandatory training for all personnel conducting wellness checks.

Added Schweyer, “When it comes to student safety and wellbeing, we have passed legislation to ensure school coaches pass background checks and we require public schools to knock on the doors of the homes of students who have not been showing up to school. No student should go without the same wellbeing protection simply because they choose to go to a school that takes place outside a physical school building.”

Schweyer said his legislation now heads to the full House for consideration.

Information provided to TVL by:
Thomas LeClair