A U.S. Department of Education report from 2004 indicated that 7% of 8th-11th grade students reported having physical sexual contact from an adult in their school. A 2000 report by the America Association of Academic Women, found that 10% of students, in the 8th-11th grade, reported inappropriate sexual conduct at school (including lewd comments, peeping in the locker room, exposure to pornography, and sexual touching or grabbing.)
While teachers are, by law, "mandated reporters" meaning, they are supposed to report any suspicion of child abuse (physical, sexual, or neglect), there is the term and even a book, "Passing the Trash" on the subject of teachers and administrators siding with the perpetrators and ignoring or covering up abuse within their schools and reassigning (and favorably recommending) abusive teachers to other positions/districts to avoid controversy.
So, while we are depending on school administrators to keep our kids safe, the truth is most schools are not even training their staff on abuse prevention, and many schools fail to educate personnel on the existing protocol for reporting abuse. Students and parents are often ostracized and bullied into silence by their districts, and every towns' clique of administrators are often more focused on keeping up their appearance, and not doing what needs to be done to actually improve the situation.
We may rely on school administrators to protect our children, but it is our job to make sure they're doing that.
What can we do? Here is a place to start:
1. Find out what your school system's policies and training procedures are for abuse prevention, detection and reporting. When where they last updated, when are personnel trained and educated. UnderTitle IX, federally funded public schools are required to address sexual harassment. This should include things like:
- Education on touching and non-touching abuse
- Warning signs of potentially abusive behavior
- Symptoms that a child is being abused
- How to minimize risk of abuse - eliminating 1:1 student/adult situations, increasing transparency - open door policies, building new schools with more windows and open spaces.
2. What are the screening processes for employees - background checks are essential, but most offenders will have a clean record. There are screening questions that can be asked that can help assess a person's likelihood for abuse.
3. Does the school educate students on abuse prevention and promote their right to report inappropriate behavior and communicate to parents as well.
4. Talk to your children about sexual abuse, their right to personal safety in the presence of authority figures. Listen and ask open ended questions about their teachers/staff.
5. Know the warning signs of grooming behaviors and the symptoms of abuse in children.
6. Work together with other parents, connect with your local rape crisis center or children's advocacy center to learn more about how sexual abuse affects your own community. Consider forming a civil group for the protection of children - so that if there ever is a need, you can better advocate for procedures to be followed appropriately and that the child/family is supported.
For more information, visit:
Stop Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct & Exploitation www.sesame.net
Enough Abuse Campaign's Gatekeepers for Kids
Erin's Law - Promoting Child Sexual Abuse Prevention Education in Schools
Sexual Exploitation in Schools - How to Spot it and Stop It, by Robert Shoop
CDC's Prevention Child Sexual Abuse Within Youth-serving Organizations