By Alex Robinson
The City Council last week overwhelmingly passed Avonte’s Law, a bill that will require the city Department of Education to install door alarms in schools that accommodate elementary school children.
Councilman Robert Cornegy (D-Brooklyn) drafted the bill after Avonte Oquendo, a 14-year-old boy with autism, was found dead on the College Point shore months after he ran out of an unguarded door at his Long Island City school.
“I believe that the Department of Education has been persuaded that where appropriate, door alarms are not only a prudent but a necessary investment in the safety of our children,” Cornegy said. “Our children are too precious to let them slip out of our safe care.”
The DOE pushed back against the law in hearings, saying there was no catch-all solution to prevent children from walking off school property. DOE officials argued the department should have the discretion to choose which schools are equipped with door alarms.
“Avonte’s Law will make our educational facilities safer for students and give parents the peace of mind they deserve when they send their children to school for the day,” Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito (D-Manhattan) said in a statement. “The DOE must thoroughly examine the need for security measures that will prevent unauthorized departures from school premises by students.”
The bill will now be sent to the mayor’s desk for his signature. The de Blasio administration has not expressed support for the bill, but the Council passed it by a vote of 48-0, more than the two-thirds needed to override a mayoral veto.
The passage of the bill came a week after the Council requested $10 million in federal funds to expand a program to provide the city’s 30,000 autistic children with GPS trackers. The expansion was first proposed by U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and would enlarge a federal program that already provides the tracking devices for people with Alzheimer’s.
The devices, which cost about $90 and a few dollars per month to operate, would only be set up for parents who choose to use them and could be worn as watches, anklets or woven into pieces of clothing, according to Schumer’s office.
Schumer’s legislation would also provide additional training for parents, schools and law enforcement to deal with children who have a tendency to wander away from caregivers.
Reach reporter Alex Robinson by e-mail at arobinson@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
