New Department of Education Initiative Aims to Protect K-12 Students from Sexual Abuse
FISHERS, IN - The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR) on Friday announced a nationwide campaign to crack down on the rampant problem of adults sexually abusing children in schools. MJC partner and sexual abuse attorney Tom Blessing welcomed the move but said it’s long overdue. “I’ve been talking about how schools enable sexual misconduct for years, so it’s nice to see that someone in Washington might finally be doing something about it.”
According to Blessing, for decades many school districts have allowed employees who have been accused of sexual misconduct to remain employed or go work somewhere else and still have access to children. “I see it all the time: a teacher or coach is accused of grooming or abusing a student, but school administrators don’t tell parents and don’t fire him. Instead, they reassign him to a different school or allow him to resign.” Blessing said that this widespread practice—called “passing the trash”—is commonly used by school districts to avoid firing employees who have been credibly accused of grooming or sexually abusing students, something he’s seen happen time and again over the years. “First school administrators ignore the problem. Then when someone comes forward, they deny the allegations. Then they try to cover it up. Then they go into damage control mode. Teachers get quietly transferred or are allowed to resign, but too often no one ever apologizes or gets fired.”
Read the full article here: U.S. Department of Education Launches National K-12 Initiative to Protect Students from Adult Sexual Predators in Schools