School Sexual Abuse: What to Do

Today we’re addressing a critical but sensitive topic, sexual abuse in K-12 schools. It’s an unfortunate reality that needs awareness, understanding, and action to prevent and stop this growing problem. Sexual abuse in school refers to any conduct that impacts a child’s emotional, psychological, digital, or physical wellbeing. This can include unwanted touching, inappropriate jokes, sexual assault, exposure to explicit material, or even requests to produce explicit material and beyond. The important thing to remember is that all of this conduct violates personal boundaries and creates an unsafe and hostile learning environment for students. This abuse can be perpetrated by anyone within the school system, including teachers, coaches, staff, and even other students. Victims of school, sexual abuse, and their parents have legal rights and options. Public schools are legally required to protect students from sexual abuse and harassment. The first step in addressing the harm is reporting it to the school.

It’s critical that during this process, the student is the focus, because we don’t want them to feel more isolated or have shame or embarrassment or feel that they’re going to be retaliated against for coming forward. Students need a support system during this time that is focused on their desires and their needs. Victims also have a right to file a report with law enforcement, which is a completely separate process from reporting to the school itself. Victims have a right to seek civil remedies, including filing a civil lawsuit for damages and other remedies for the harm that’s happened to them. This is especially relevant to the situations where it’s believed the school mishandled the original report. Confronting sexual abuse is about protecting children and ensuring they all have a safe environment to learn. If you or someone has been the victim of school, sexual abuse, it’s important to seek assistance. Whether that’s reaching out to a trusted individual or an organization like Helping Survivors, there are people who will believe you and support you in this journey.