Institutional policies and protocols
that address sexual assault/inappropriate acts with children/students read
correct in published district policies and directives; unfortunately, it would
appear the lack of enforcement at the campus level by administrators, some of
whom participate openly in violations, are the invitations for others to engage
in such activity.
Responding to diverse, undeserved
or historically marginalized victims is a serious issue. In a case I am now
addressing as an advocate, a young female student, know to administrators as a
“hall walker,” was ignored, in fact punished when she became a victim of
inappropriate, possibly sexual assault at the hands of a male teacher.
Prevention programs are, I believe,
built into the system by virtue of a schedule of classes and mandated
attendance requirements (state and district). If a strong enforcement
environment is in maintained, if students not in class attendance are
disciplined swiftly, appropriately, and consistently, the opportunity for
sexual assaults on campus would minimize, if not eliminated completely.
Crisis intervention and advocacy
services, not associated with the campus, and perhaps even the district, must
be available to students who report sexual assault. In the case I am
addressing, the district law enforcement officers, assigned to the campus on
which the assault occurred, were instrumental in the destruction of evidence,
witness intimidation, and coercion.
Complaint and grievance procedures,
as with the crisis intervention and advocacy services, especially in highly
emotional sexual assault cases, must be detached from the campus on which
incident has occurred. place. I will go
further and say, typical complaint and grievance procedures are not qualified
to address sexual complaints. A 9-1-1 call is more appropriate with immediate
depositions and official police reports.
Responsibility for investigation
protocols and procedures regarding any violent crime, especially one as heinous
as a sexual assault of a child/student should be immediately fall on the
Special Victims Unit of the municipality in which the district is located.
Adjudicatory procedures in all
sexual assault cases involving children/students need to be prioritized and
highly publicized. Disciplinary sanctions should never enter the process;
maximum sentences for any and all child/abusers should always be the goal of
the prosecution.
Training and orientation modules for
students, staff, and faculty need to be implemented in public venue, with child
and parent present, even as a public service presentation on local television
stations.
If proper and aggressive preventive
measures are in place, the need for evaluating and measuring the success of
prevention and response efforts should be minimal.
In the San Antonio area, most
districts finding they need to deal with an inappropriate teacher/student situation
openly share the information with the public; however, these are those districts
which opt to deal with those issues silently.
Making enforcement activities
transparent and accessible is a non-negotiable. Both student and staff, all
staff, must be aware that the campus is on a constant state of high alert for
inappropriate, non-academic activities during academic time, during transition
periods, during lunch, while engaged in before and after school activities.
Promoting greater coordination and
consistency among federal agencies is a must. In states where governors are
weak in educational concerns, district staff must prioritize communication with
not only federal agencies, but state and local law enforcement agencies.
Maximizing the Federal Government’s effectiveness
in combatting campus rape and sexual assault falls on every employee of every
school district. If an employee, at any level, is not satisfied with the
results of reporting an incident to a campus/district administration, that
individual has the responsibility of reporting the incident to the next higher
authority.
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