Seattle Schools Community Forum: Policy 3208, Sexual Harassment Annual Report

Seattle Schools Community Forum: Policy 3208, Sexual Harassment Annual Report:

Policy 3208, Sexual Harassment Annual Report

Here's the latest in a recurring topic.

School Board policy 3208, Sexual Harassment, requires an annual report.

The Superintendent shall make an annual report to the Board reviewing the use and efficacy of this policy and related procedures. Recommendations for changes to this policy, if applicable, shall be included in the report. The Superintendent is encouraged to involve staff, students, and volunteers and parents in the review process.

I have written to the Board on numerous occasions over the past two years - since the NatureBridge incident - asking for this annual report. Every time before that I have asked for it, I have been told that no such report has ever been made.

That story just changed. I just got an email from the Board office saying that the report has been made. How did I miss it? Because the claim is pretty weak.

They now claim that the report was made verbally in August and September of 2014 to the Board Operations Committee. A review of the meeting minutes, however, makes it pretty clear that the report made at those meetings was not responsive to the policy. They were Title IX reports on incidents of sexual harassment, not a review of the use and efficacy of the policy. The Title IX reports did not include any recommendations for changes to the policy. There was no community input to these reports.

Here's what the committee minutes show for August:

Title IX sexual harassment student update: The first half of the 2013-14 Title IX report was presented by Pegi McEvoy on Harassment, Intimidation and Bullying (HIB) non-sexual harassment and sexual harassment student data. The adult data for the 2013-14 school year will be presented next month. Given that the Board has asked for annual school data, the district staff recommend that the annual Title IX report be routinely scheduled for August Operations Committee to allow time to assemble a report and make recommendations based upon complete school year data. Additionally, the superintendent has asked staff to Seattle Schools Community Forum: Policy 3208, Sexual Harassment Annual Report:

Yoo Hoo, Washington Legislature (and Governor Inslee)

I was just in Minnesota - great place with good education.  (Funny thing - in my sister's city, they have an out-of-retirement superintendent running their district.)