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Federal Register

/Vol. 68, No. 115/Monday, June 16, 2003/Notices

system and amending theAdministrative Manual: By-Laws,Management and Personnel; and aresolution providing for election of theCommission Chair, Vice Chair andSecond Vice Chair for the year 2003

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2004, commencing July 1, 2003.Draft dockets scheduled for publichearing on June 26, 2003 are posted onthe Commission

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s Web site,

http:// www.drbc.net,

where they can beaccessed through the Notice of Commission Meeting and PublicHearing. Additional documents relatingto the dockets and other items may beexamined at the Commission

’

s offices.Please contact Thomas L. Brand at 609

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883

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9500 ext. 221 with any docket-related questions.Persons wishing to testify at thishearing are requested to register inadvance with the Commission Secretaryat 609

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883

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9500 ext. 203. Individualsin need of an accommodation asprovided for in the Americans withDisabilities Act who wish to attend thehearing should contact the CommissionSecretary directly at 609

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883

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9500 ext.203 or through the TelecommunicationsRelay Services (TRS) at 711, to discusshow the Commission may accommodateyour needs.

Dated: June 9, 2003.

Christopher M. Roberts,

Public Information Officer.

[FR Doc. 03

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15117 Filed 6

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03; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6360

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DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATIONElementary and Secondary EducationAct; Unsafe School Choice Option;Final Deadlines for Implementation

AGENCY

Office of Safe and Drug-FreeSchools, Department of Education.

ACTION

Notice of final deadlines forimplementation.

SUMMARY

The Deputy Under Secretaryfor Safe and Drug-Free Schoolsestablishes deadline dates forimplementation of the Unsafe SchoolChoice Option (USCO) requirements,under section 9532 of the Elementaryand Secondary Education Act (ESEA) of 1965, as amended by the No Child LeftBehind Act of 2001. This noticeestablishes deadlines by which eachState must identify persistentlydangerous schools, as well as offerstudents attending a persistentlydangerous school and students who arevictims of a violent criminal offensewhile on school property theopportunity to transfer to a safe school.The notice of final deadlines forimplementation is effective June 16,2003.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

Kristen Hayes, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Ave., SW.,Room 3E340, Washington, DC 20202

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6123. Telephone: (202) 708

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9431. Or viaInternet:

Kristen.Hayes@ed.gov.

If you use a telecommunicationsdevice for the deaf (TDD), you may callthe Federal Information Relay Service(FIRS) at 1

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800

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877

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8339.Individuals with disabilities mayobtain this document in an alternativeformat (

e.g.,

Braille, large print,audiotape, or computer diskette) onrequest to the contact person under

FOR

FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Thesefinal deadlines implement the UnsafeSchool Choice Option (USCO), section9532 of the Elementary and SecondaryEducation Act as amended by the NoChild Left Behind Act of 2001 (Pub. L.107

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110), enacted January 8, 2002.On April 7, 2003, the Deputy UnderSecretary published a notice of proposed deadlines for finalimplementation (notice of proposeddeadlines) for this provision in the

Federal Register

(68 FR 16789).In the notice of proposed deadlines,the Deputy Under Secretary proposedtwo deadlines for timelyimplementation of the USCO provision.The notice of proposed deadlinesproposed (1) requiring each State toidentify those schools that meet itsdefinition of a persistently dangerousschool by July 1, 2003, and each July 1stthereafter; and (2) requiring each Stateto allow students attending apersistently dangerous publicelementary or secondary school andstudents who are victims of a violentcriminal offense the opportunity totransfer to a safe school by the start of the 2003

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2004 school year and eachstart of the school year thereafter.This notice of final deadlines forimplementation contains significantchanges that are fully explained in theAnalysis of Comments and Changeselsewhere in this notice.

Analysis of Comments and Changes

In response to the Deputy UnderSecretary

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s invitation to comment in thenotice of proposed deadlines, 13 partiessubmitted comments. Six of thecommenters addressed the issue of thedeadlines proposed in the notice of proposed deadlines. Following is ananalysis of the comments and changesthe Department has made in thedeadlines since publication of the noticeof proposed deadlines.We group major issues according tosubject. Generally, we do not addresstechnical and other minor changes. Wealso do not address suggested changesthat the law does not authorize theSecretary to make.

Deadline for Identifying PersistentlyDangerous Schools

Comments:

Six commenters requestedthe July 1, 2003 and each July 1stthereafter deadline for labeling schoolspersistently dangerous be reconsidered.Four commenters proposed deadlines between July 15 and August 15; onecommenter proposed a flexibletimeframe of July 1

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September 30, andthe other commenter felt that the July 1deadline was too soon, but did notpropose a specific date.Some of these commenters objected tothe July 1st deadline because they believed it would not provide Stateswith a sufficient amount of time tocollect and analyze the most recentschool year

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s data by July 1st. Otherscontended that the deadline might forcea State to omit its most recent schoolyear

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s data in identifying persistentlydangerous schools, and therefore notrecognize improvements in the school

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senvironment that were made in the mostrecent school year.

Discussion:

We agree that the July 1implementation date could have had anegative impact on the States

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ability toutilize the most recent school year

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sdata in identifying persistentlydangerous schools. It could also have been difficult for some States tocomplete analysis of the data by July 1.

Changes:

In response to thesecomments, the Deputy Under Secretaryestablishes a final deadline requiringeach State to identify schools that meetits definition of a persistently dangerousschool in sufficient time to permit localeducational agencies (LEAs) to offerstudents in schools identified aspersistently dangerous the option totransfer to a safe school at least 14calendar days before the start of the2003

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2004 school year, and each schoolyear thereafter.

Deadline for Offering StudentsOpportunity To Transfer

Comments:

We received threecomments pertaining to the proposedstart of school year deadline fortransferring students who attend apersistently dangerous school orstudents who are victims of a violentcriminal offense to transfer to a safeschool. Two commenters stated that thisdeadline was feasible. One commenterproposed the effective date of studenttransfers be changed to October 1st of each year, at the earliest, to allow