"Pursuant to 24 P.S. § 15-1553(a), the Department of Education (Department) hereby submits the following Model Dating Violence Policy. School entities have an obligation to ensure the safety of their students. In that regard, the Department provides the following as one possible model for school entities that wish to adopt and implement a Dating Violence Policy in order to promote the prevention of dating violence."

(j) Specific purposes. The committee shall provide grants to school entities for programs that address safety and security, including: (6) Risk assessment, safety-related, violence prevention curricula, including dating violence curricula and restorative justice strategies.

(c) In addition to the powers and duties set forth under subsection (b), the office is authorized to make targeted grants to school entities, and to intermediate units on behalf of nonpublic schools, to fund programs which address school violence, including: (3) Risk assessment, safety-related, violence prevention curricula, including, but not limited to, dating violence curricula and restorative justice strategies.

(b)(1) Each school district may establish a specific policy to address incidents of dating violence involving students at school. (2) The policy may include, but need not be limited to: a statement that dating violence will not be tolerated; violence reporting procedures; discipline procedures for students that commit violence at school; and contact information for and resources available through domestic violence programs and rape crisis programs. (3) A school district that establishes the policy shall: (i) Publish the policy in any school district policy or handbook that specifies the comprehensive rules, procedures and Standard of conduct for students at school. (ii) Make the policy available on its publicly available Internet website. (iii) Provide parents and guardians with a copy of the policy. ... (c)(1) A school district may provide dating violence training to guidance counselors, nurses and mental health staff at the high school level. Upon the recommendation of the district superintendent, other staff may be included or may attend the training on a voluntary basis. The school district may also provide dating violence training to parents. (2) The dating violence training may include, but need not be limited to: basic principles of dating violence; warning signs of dating violence; the school district’s dating violence policy; appropriate responses to incidents of dating violence at school; and services and resources available through domestic violence programs and rape crisis programs.

Discusses the history of dating violence legislation in PA and how it has been enacted, provides recommendations for the future