Next Thursday November 1, the DC city council will hold several education-related hearings whose common theme is improving student safety in and around our schools.
Sexual Assault and Abuse
At 10 am on November 1, the council’s education committee is holding a hearing on two bills, introduced in September, that would require schools to adopt policies to address information about; reporting of; and response to allegations of sexual harassment and abuse.
(And yes, it is incredible that this is all new.)
As noted on the council website, the Student Safety and Consent Education Act (B22-0967) requires that “schools adopt and implement a policy to prevent and address peer-to-peer sexual harassment, sexual assault, and dating violence among students. The policy should include a statement prohibiting sexual harassment, sexual assault, or dating violence among students and a protocol of how to respond to allegations. It also requires staff development training.”
(Just fyi, the DC Coalition Against Domestic Violence has a petition supporting the legislation, available here.)
At the same hearing, the education committee will also hear testimony about another recently introduced bill, the School Safety Act (B22-0951). As noted on the council website, the bill requires that “schools adopt and implement a policy to prevent and address child sexual abuse, including protocols for responding to and reporting allegations. Public schools and public charter schools are also required to vet potential hires by checking the national licensing database.”
Recent events in DC’s schools just in 2018 alone acutely underscore the acute need for both bills (i.e., at LAMB; Chavez; Roosevelt; Shepherd; Meridian).
(The council also has another piece of legislation to support anonymous reporting in schools, which is not part of this hearing.)..
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