Rep. Thomas Killion
168th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
(610) 325-1541
(717) 772-0855
Contact: Donna M. Pinkham
(717) 260-6452
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 1, 2010
House Approves Killion Bill Targeting Violence and Crime at Private Residential Rehabilitative Institutions
Bill closes loophole in law to enhance safety at institutions like Glen Mills Schools
NEWTOWN SQUARE - Rep. Tom Killion (R-Delaware/Chester) has secured passage of new legislation this week that closes a loophole in Pennsylvania state law and will enhance the safety of students, teachers and administrators at private, residential rehabilitation schools and institutions like Glen Mills Schools.
State law contains safeguards for teachers, students and administrators at traditional schools by providing enhanced penalties for aggravated assault on teachers and employees, and criminal trespass. But a loophole in the law does not afford the same protections and enhanced penalties for non-traditional educational institutions like Glen Mills Schools. Killion's legislation, House Bill 1878, seeks to close that loophole. HB 1878 was overwhelmingly approved in the House this week and is now awaiting action in the Senate.
"Under current law, if a teacher or employee is attacked or a person commits criminal trespass at a traditional public or private school, there are stricter penalties than if that same crime was committed at an educational institution like Glen Mills Schools," said Killion. "This is a glaring loophole in state law that needs to be addressed. This legislation guarantees that the same protections afforded to students and teachers at traditional schools are afforded to students and teachers at private residential rehabilitative institutions."
Killion said he introduced the legislation after discussing the discrepancy in state law with officials at Glen Mills Schools and learning how it treats students, teachers and employees differently.
"At Glen Mills Schools, we have a lot of really good, hard-working people committed to helping kids," Jack Rachko, director of Special Services at Glen Mills Schools. "This legislation is important because it provides them some protection and support as they work at a difficult job to help our youth. This bill provides additional protections to our staff and the support they need in the tough job they have to do."
The Glen Mills Schools is a private, residential school for court-adjudicated male delinquents between 15 and 18 years of age. Founded in 1826 as the Philadelphia House of Refuge, the Schools have provided services continuously for 181 years and is the oldest existing facility of its type in the United States.
In 1975, the Glen Mills Schools implemented a new program model that treats delinquency as a behavioral problem and not a psychological or psychiatric disorder. The program has demonstrated that in the right environment the majority of adjudicated delinquents behave as fine young men, and they can achieve in all areas -- academically, vocationally and socially -- to a very high degree. Since the implementation of that model, the institution has grown from a student population of fewer than 100 to an internationally known and respected program providing services to more than 900 students.
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