Managing Reports of Educator Misconduct Prepared by: Laura Kirschstein, Vice President Sexual Misconduct Consulting & Investigations Division T&M Protection Resources, LLC 230 Park Avenue, Suite 440 New York, NY 10169 www.tmprotection.com / 212.422.0000 Confidential

Laura Kirschstein Former sex crimes prosecutor for the New York County District Attorney Former First Assistant at the Organized Crime Task Force for the New York State Attorney General Former adjunct professor of Criminal Justice at Pace University 26 years of experience Investigated hundreds of sexual assault, abuse and harassment cases Authored and assisted in authoring school policies Bucknell University and Temple Law grad Former school athlete Coach for youth soccer team Mother of three Laura Kirschstein Vice President Sexual Misconduct Consulting & Investigations Direct: 212.916.8852 lkirschstein@tmprotection.com Confidential

Alumni Allegations of Sexual Abuse Numerous reports by alumni around the country Boarding and day schools Often dating back to the 70s and 80s Reporting by email, letter, call, social media Facebook, Survivors’ websites, blogs Myriad of cases in the news on a daily basis It can happen at your school and you need to be prepared for it Confidential

Immediate Steps to Consider Call your lawyer immediately - do not sit on this allegation for even a day Insurance Carrier- coverage at time of abuse Do you have to make a report pursuant to New York State’s Mandatory Reporting Laws or notify law enforcement? Are you obligated to report? Risk of not reporting Do you authorize an Investigation If so, you must choose an Investigator- engaged by counsel A Media Consultant or Crisis Management Firm to handle strategy, press, communications Every state in the United States has a mandatory reporting law that requires certain individuals, deemed “mandatory reporters” to make a call to child protective services or law enforcement if they reasonably suspect a child has been the victim of physical abuse, sexual abuse or neglect/maltreatment. These laws vary from state to state with regard to who is deemed a “mandatory reporter”. In every state, school officials are considered “mandatory reporters” however these laws vary with regard to who must perpetrate the abuse or neglect for it to be reportable. For instance, in New York State, only abuse and neglect perpetrated by a parent, guardian or someone else legally responsible for the child, must be reported. In Pennsylvania, and many other states, such abuse or neglect perpetrated by anyone must be reported. Thus it is important to know your state’s mandatory reporting law to determine if a report must be made and if it must, do so immediately. Confidential

Your Lawyer Attorney represents the School Employees may need their own counsel Biggest mistakes are made when a school does not seek legal advice and makes decisions in the beginning that cannot be undone Should be someone who has done this before - your lawyer versus insurance company lawyer Will guide you regarding responding to the complaint Knee-jerk reaction to investigate Confidential

Responding to the Allegation Need to think carefully about how to respond Will you meet with the alleged victim? Head of School to Chair of Board What are you trying to learn? Are they represented? What are they looking for? Do they indicate why now? Think about what you may offer if asked How you respond sets stage for how School will be viewed by others - most importantly the victim Confidential

What else do you need to know? Does allegation involve a current employee? If not, where is former employee now? Do you know circumstances of their departure? References or Recommendations in file or provided by School Discuss vetting information with small group Begin locating specific documents and files Social media Confidential

Notification to Law Enforcement Think about how you will handle Will School call? Will you disclose the names to law enforcement if requested? Background investigation? What will they do? Need to have discussed this and understand what could happen if report and if do not Confidential

Authorize an Investigation Need to determine if best course of action Outside and independent/external Privileged and confidential Fact finding mission Will there be a committee of board of trustees or others as oversight to whom investigator will report? Think about composition of that committee Decision made at beginning regarding how will handle specific issues Who will conduct the investigation? How will you notify the community? Confidential

Engaging an Investigator Engaged by Legal Counsel and Privileged No relationship to school, board members, other school employees, attorney for school Someone who has conducted these types of investigations and understand the sensitivities Conduct independent and complete investigation When done internally optics are bad and scream cover up Transparency is crucial Looking at School’s knowledge of abuse Possible abuse by other employees Confidential

The letter Do you send out a letter? Do you name the perpetrator? What does the letter say and to whom is it distributed? Alumni Current /former employees Former parents Board members Are you reaching former non graduating students and other members of community? Media Consultant’s involvement Encourage the reporting of incidents of abuse Engage Investigator to receive complaints In light of many claims reported in schools In support and protection of community Notify of current policies and procedures for protection of students Confidential

Other issues to consider How will reports be received? School Counselor Investigator Talking points for counselor Telling your School employees System in place Google doc Spreadsheet Emails Be organized Information cannot fall through cracks Confidential

What Investigator will need from you Create list of individuals that may have knowledge Current and former employees at time of abuse Board members at time of abuse Other parties with knowledge of alleged abuser Old Documents/emails Organization chart Where are they and what do you have Yearbooks Personnel files Board minutes Those other infamous “files” Is there a “scary room”? Confidential

Questions to be prepared for by Victims “Why Now”? “Where Were You All Of These Years” Allegations of “Open Secret” Assumption that adults were aware and did nothing Were there reports Lack of sensitivity and concern How to handle confidentiality versus anonymity What victims and other witnesses will be told at the outset about the investigation Naming names Anger Confidential

In the end Need to answer the question of what happened and how it happened Did other students know? Did adults know? Should they have known? Were telltale signs missed? Was someone allowed to stay and as a result victimized others? Reporting the findings Public report versus internal to board Confidential