Miller Applauds Effort to Keep Students Safe from Sexual Abuse by Clarifying Schools’ Responsibility
WASHINGTON—In response to today’s release of updated guidance from the U.S. Department of Education to help schools and districts better protect children from sexual violence, Representative George Miller, senior Democrat on the House Committee on Education and the Workforce, issued the following statement:
“Providing schools with clearer guidelines about their responsibility to protect students from sexual violence by school personnel, as the Department of Education has done with today’s updated Title IX guidance, helps keep children safe. Children have a right to be safe in schools, and schools have a legal and moral obligation to fulfill that promise.
“Today’s guidance clarifies that obligation by putting schools and districts on notice that they should take steps to protect students by developing policies and procedures for identifying and responding to sexual abuse, including implementing staff codes of conduct. Schools should also provide staff training to explain what types of conduct are prohibited, such as grooming, a strategy used by predators to lay the foundation for future abuse, and how to respond, should these behaviors occur.
“I originally requested the GAO report that demonstrated how little many schools know about their roles and responsibilities when it comes to preventing abuse as part of my long commitment to protecting children. I am pleased that the Education Department has responded to the GAO’s findings and hope that the new guidance will help schools and districts fully understand and comply with the existing Title IX requirements so that children are no longer vulnerable to abuse and harassment.”
Read the Department of Education’s updated frequently asked questions, which now clarify for school districts and schools that Title IX includes an obligation to protect students from sexual abuse by school employees, here.
To address this issue, Miller called on Committee Chairman Kline in January to hold hearings on child sex abuse; thus far, Kline has not scheduled any such hearings.
Learn more about Miller’s work to prevent sexual abuse and find the original GAO report, “Federal Agencies Can Better Support State Efforts to Prevent and Respond to Sexual Abuse by School Personnel,” here.
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