The Dark Side of Education: Sexual Abuse and Harassment in K-12 Schools

When parents place their children in schools and academic institutions, they assume that the experience will provide a positive impact on their child’s life and future. However, this, unfortunately, is not always the case. Recent findings show that sexual assault in schools is much more prevalent than the average parent would think.

According to a nationally representative survey of U.S. K-12 schools, 49% of students grades 7-12 reported experiencing some form of sexual harassment within a single school year. Social media has also allowed the potential for a harasser to permeate all areas of a victim’s life. From email exchanges to cyber-bullying, the damages any type of harassment can cause have reached much farther than it had even a decade ago.

When parents blindly put their trust in school and organization officials it can sometimes lead to long-term devastating outcomes for both the child and family. Victims of sexual abuse tend to suffer dramatically increased incidences of suicidal behavior, self-harm, anxiety, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Recent civil rights movements like #TimesUp and #MeToo are proof that people are finally saying enough is enough. But in the case of students and minors, it’s ultimately up to the schools to keep their students in a safe environment.

Here, we’ll visit cases in which institutions have failed at providing the level of safety that minors deserve, and that parents should expect. In addition, we’ll provide some expert tips on what parents and students can do to combat this issue.

Cases of Teacher-to-Student Sexual Assault

The highly-publicized class-action lawsuit against former U.S. Gymnastics team physician, Larry Nassar, was a wake up call for many parents. 156 women athletes came forward to testify against Nasser for sexually abusing them while supposedly treating them. Not only was Nasser the youth team’s physician, he was also in charge for monitoring sexual harassment claims.

Sadly, this is just one of many instances of sexual misconduct that happen to youths on a regular basis. In May of this year, a team of personal injury lawyers in Baltimore at Murphy, Falcon & Murphy filed a class-action lawsuit against a private Roman Catholic high school and Ryan Penalver, a former teacher and administrator at the academy. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of students who had been “sexually harassed, assaulted, abused, exploited and/or inappropriately touched,” one of which who had confided in Penalver after experiencing personal traumas and had been grooming them via their personal account for nearly a year prior.

Both cases are just two examples of a deep, underlying problem and how detrimental it can be to both a child and family to place the trust of a child’s supervision in the wrong hands.

Student-to-Student Sexual Assault

While many people voice concerns about teacher-to-student sexual assault crimes, recent findings show this should not be a parent’s only concern. According to a study, for every student-to-teacher sexual assault incident, there are seven crimes that occur between students.

With the intent to provide a deeper look into the issue, the following are details surrounding common sexual assault crimes among school students, including gender, experience with sexual assault, and how victims coped afterward.

Percentage of Students Who Experienced Sexual Harassment in U.S. K-12 schools (2010-2011)

what can you do about it?

Parents

Sexual harassment in grades 7-12 is rarely reported. Only 9% of students who experienced sexual harassment reported the incident to a teacher, counselor, or adult. Only 27% of students spoke about it with their friends and/or family members (siblings included).

Have Open Communication

If you have a child in k-12 schools, there are many things you can do as a parent to help combat this issue. While it’s a common theme for teens to not want to share certain things with their parents, making them feel they can openly communicate with you about hard issues can help a great deal. Constantly reminding your kids and teenagers of your constant support and availability to them can make them feel more inclined to share some tough information with you if the time comes. Letting your child understand you have their best interest in mind and gaining their trust is incredibly important to having open conversations.

Believe them

If a child is coming to you with an issue, chances are they’ve already contemplated whether to do so for a while. The quickest way to cut this potential lifeline to your child is by not taking them seriously. Try to fight the urge to interrupt them with whatever it was you wanted to discuss and just… listen. Many parents forget that teenagers have yet to figure out how to express themselves when it comes to tough issues, no matter how “mature” they may seem. Many parents of children who’ve committed suicide due to bullying or sexual harassment say they wish they would have listened more. Be alert for signs that can indicate that something is wrong and if there is, pursue it.

Take Immediate Action

When the leading witness who testified on the Nasser case reported the abuse to her parents at age 12, they didn’t believe her. Her parents made her apologize to the doctor and continue treatment with him. It wasn’t until she was older and paid for her own counseling privately that she worked up the courage to tell her parents again as an adult and eventually testify against Nasser.

While the witness’ parents aren’t at fault here, one can’t help but imagine how much pain and suffering could have been avoided if her parents would’ve believed her the first time.

Students

Students can play a big role in combating school sexual assault. Based on recent findings, 33% of girls and about 24% of boys said they had observed sexual harassment in their school throughout the past year. In addition, 56% of those students said they had witnessed sexual harassment more than once throughout the school year. Many harassers and bullies continue their behavior because they feel like they can. If bystanders stood up for those being harassed, or even spoke up and told an adult, it can make a difference.

If you or anyone you know is being sexually harassed at school, call 1.800.656.HOPE (4673) to find more information about resources and to be connected with a trained sexual assault service member. All calls are safe and confidential.