Authorizing the City of Philadelphia's Joint Committee on Public Safety and Education to hold public hearings regarding the Philadelphia School District policy for the dismissal or release of students to parents, guardians or other individuals for the purpose of verifying the identity of persons who remove a student from any Philadelphia public school.

WHEREAS, During the school year, thousands of taxpaying parents entrust the Philadelphia School District with the safe dismissal and release of their children from school; and

WHEREAS, On Monday, January 14, 2013, a five-year-old girl was abducted and taken from her classroom at Cullen Bryant Elementary School by an unidentified woman; and

WHEREAS, It has been widely reported that the abduction of the five-year-old student occurred while the classroom was managed by a substitute teacher; and

WHEREAS, The perpetrator of the student abduction, whose physical identity was recorded on school surveillance cameras, has not been apprehended by the Philadelphia Police Department; and

WHEREAS, The Special Release of Pupils policy for the School District of Philadelphia, last updated February 1993 attached hereto, does not prescribe a uniform policy for the verification of the identification of persons to whom students are released; and

WHEREAS, The adoption and execution of a uniform written policy for the early dismissal and release of students from school by parents, guardians or other individuals may have adverted the abduction of the student on January 14, 2013; and

WHEREAS, Furthermore, a uniform policy that includes a parent/guardian photograph identification verification procedure would have altogether prevented abduction by any person not authorized by the parents to remove the student from school and in the event that an authorized individual takes a student without parental consent, the identification of such person can be quickly and easily communicated to the Philadelphia Police Department; and

WHEREAS, A uniform written policy for the dismissal or release of students applied in all schools under the authority of the School District of Philadelphia, including Charter Schools, will enable substitute teachers to adhere and apply the same safe student release policy in every school, and help keep insure the safety of all students; now therefore, be it

Resolved, That the Philadelphia City Council, Calls on the City of Philadelphia's Joint Committee on Public Safety and Education to conduct hearings concerning the establishment of a uniform policy including, but not limited to the mandatory verification of parent photograph identification for the dismissal and release of any student in any school in the School District of Philadelphia.

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