Keeping Students Out of Harm's Way: Reducing Risks of Educator Sexual Misconduct

Sexual misconduct by school staff, which we refer to as educator sexual misconduct (ESM), is a serious and damaging violation of the trust that parents and students put in the educational system. After reviewing the prevalence and consequences of ESM for all parties involved, the authors propose standards of practice based on the Situational Crime Prevention framework to prevent sexual abuse by altering the environment and reducing opportunities for offending. The strategies offered in this paper can help create a comprehensive approach to reducing sexual victimization of students by staff. The standards serve as an operational framework for prevention and reduce the likelihood of ESM and institutional legal liability. The seven standards include safe screening and hiring practices for staff, codes of conduct, ensuring safe environments, staff-student communication policy (including electronic communication), training staff, parents and students, monitoring and supervision, along with reporting questionable conduct. By implementing these standards, educational institutions can help ensure better protection of children from ESM.