Bill > S07037

This bill establishes the "Social Media Monitoring Safety Act," which requires school districts to implement data analytic resources for monitoring publicly available social media activities to detect potential threats to student health and school safety. The legislation allocates $6 million in funding to help school districts establish these monitoring systems, with specific guidelines that restrict schools from accessing private communications without express authorization from a student or a court. The bill's intent is to provide early detection of potentially harmful student communications while maintaining privacy protections. Schools will be required to develop policies that allow monitoring of public social media posts, with any detected threats to be reported to school principals or their designees, who can then take appropriate action based on the level of potential risk. Importantly, the bill explicitly prohibits schools from accessing private digital communications like emails without proper legal authorization, attempting to balance safety concerns with student privacy rights. The monitoring system will take effect 120 days after the bill becomes law, giving school districts time to prepare and implement the new requirements.

Budget and Finance

https://www.nysenate.gov/legislation/bills/2025/S7037