A Look at Educator misconduct April 05, 2019 | Patrick J. Amice | Tom Ciano www.usi.com

K-12 Educator-on-student sexual misconduct The Study K-12 Educator-on-student sexual misconduct Claims received from 2011 to 2016 45 claims involving more than 60 victims

40% of the claims studied resulted in losses Losses totaled $6.2 million Average claim cost $343,000

Misconduct Defined Sexual assault is a range of misconduct that includes nonconsensual sexual touching and nonconsensual sexual intercourse. Sexual harassment is unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that does not involve physical contact, but includes sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal or nonverbal conduct. Boundary crossing occurs when an educator’s behavior toward a student crosses commonly held standards of propriety, but may not violate a school code of conduct or any laws. Electronic harassment is unwelcome sexual communication by electronic means

Perpetrators 85% of perpetrators were male 61% of perpetrators were teachers, and 24% were coaches Administrators and contractors comprised the remaining 15% of perpetrators 1/3 of the perpetrators had multiple victims

Perpetrator’s Job Title

Victims Three-quarters of the victims were female High school girls (ages 15-17) comprised 61% of the victims Elementary and middle school students comprised 27% of the victims Half of the victims were assaulted or harassed by serial perpetrators

Victims Most Common Victim Age Range is 14 to 17 10-13 is next Most Incidents Occur On Campus (Bathroom, Windowless Offices, Vehicles, Closets)

Most Common Allegations Breach of fiduciary duty Negligent hiring Negligent training

Lessons From Claims Creating an environment in which appropriate educator-student boundaries are enforced Creating an environment that encourages reporting

Lessons From Claims Consider the following restrictions: Private meetings on or off campus Unobservable electronic communication Inappropriate touching Sharing noncurricular sexual conversation or imagery Sharing inappropriate personal information

Lessons From Claims Student Training Age appropriate Comprehensive Employee Training Multiple formats, including scenarios Address school policies and local and federal law

Lessons From Claims Identify strong boundaries in the employee code of conduct. Delineate the range of possible sanctions. Enforce sanctions commensurate with the offense, with harsher sanctions for repeated boundary violations.

Lessons From Claims Educators may allege defamation or wrongful termination for mishandled terminations. Legal counsel can advise on contractual obligations and applicable law.

Lessons From Claims Conduct thorough investigations. When applicable, enforce appropriate sanctions. Never sanction someone who in good faith reports alleged abuse. Prohibit retaliation in student and employee handbooks. If students or staff retaliate, take prompt remedial action.

Lessons From Claims Retain copies of prior sexual misconduct policies indefinitely. Establish a stakeholder group of administrators and board members. responsible for annually reviewing reports, extracting lessons, and implementing changes.