School-based child sexual abuse prevention and intervention - Why are protective policies and procedures important?

Children go to school every day to learn and they have a right to feel safe and protected while doing so. To ensure students are safe from sexual abuse at school, districts need clear policies and regulations that describe... [ view full abstract ]

Children go to school every day to learn and they have a right to feel safe and protected while doing so. To ensure students are safe from sexual abuse at school, districts need clear policies and regulations that describe educator sexual abuse, detail acceptable and unacceptable behavior, provide mechanisms for reporting, guide students, teachers, administrators, and parents in prevention, describe a system of investigation, and describe the consequences. Stakeholders need policies that define verbal, visual, and physical sexual misconduct and make it clear that the district is committed to eliminating sexual exploitation by adults of students. The policies should provide guidance in identifying and reporting behaviors that might indicate sexual exploitation and make it clear that the entire school community is responsible for identification and reporting. Policies should not only provide direction for reporting concerns to school district officials, but also provide a clear set of requirements for investigating, reporting to law enforcement and state education certifying and licensing authorities. This presentation will present policy considerations based upon cases of child sexual abuse in schools.