Security and Safety

The security and safety of your students and employees are of the utmost importance and should be a top priority. In recent years, school leaders have reevaluated their safety practices in light of school shootings, COVID-19, and increased awareness around sexual misconduct. A safe environment enables the students to focus on their education and fosters healthy social behaviors. Research on the topic has shown that feeling unsafe at school negatively impacts student achievement and increases drop-out rates. When we refer to safety, we are referring to a number of different areas: physical, emotional, social, and cyber. 

In the last decade, parental concerns have shifted from educational programming to student safety. While curriculum and achievement are important to parents, they are increasingly concerned about how to keep their children physically, emotionally, psychologically, and electronically safe. Below, we’ll cover the different areas of security and safety within your school.

It is critical to understand your school’s current climate and culture since those are underlying aspects of what drive safe and unsafe school behaviors. Surveying your students and employees is an effective way to have quantitative data around climate and culture. You can use this data to change policies and/or incorporate training that will set expectations and drive positive behavior. You should also examine each aspect of physical, emotional, psychological, and electronic safety, as outlined in the sections below.

Physical Safety

Physical safety for students and employees can range from campus culture to environmental safety to greater threats, such as school shootings. The rise of school shootings understandably has many parents concerned about their children’s safety, therefore many schools have made efforts to increase physical safety practices. Understanding the concerns of the faculty, staff, students, and parents will provide a comprehensive understanding of perceived school safety to guide schools as they cater to the specific needs of the community. Therefore, your school should consider working closely with local departments of safety and consider hiring a vetted firm to do a physical risk assessment of your buildings, lighting, walkways, and campus. While these practices may not prevent incidents, they are likely to reduce the risk. Doing this work sends an important message to your community about the school’s commitment to maintaining a safe environment for everyone.

They would be noting things such as, but not limited to: [School Safety and Security 2020: Is My Child Safe at School?]

Your school should record and address incidents such as, but not limited to: 

While the physical safety of students and employees is essential, these efforts must be coupled with emotional, social, and cyber safety measures to ensure your students are protected from both psychological and physical threats. 

Emotional Safety

Emotional safety for students and employees is critical for a positive learning and work environment. While schools can’t protect against all forms of stress and challenge, they can work hard to address issues of anxiety and stress that negatively impact students and faculty to provide resources and strategies that can improve the emotional wellbeing of the school. A student’s sense of emotional safety within the school environment has been tied to academic and social-emotional success. It is essential for your school to take into account the wide range of emotional needs of the community in order for your students to thrive. Implementing Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) curriculums catered to each age group has been tied to children’s positive academic and social outcomes. Addressing your school’s emotional safety needs will serve students in their long-term social and academic careers, and help foster a culture of trust between school leadership and students.

School staff and policymakers should note things such as, but not limited to:

Creating an emotionally safe classroom environment supports the well-being of your students, therefore teachers must have an understanding of their potential impact on the classroom climate. Ensuring that your students have access to the proper tools and resources to thrive academically and emotionally in and out of the classroom should be a priority. Providing students with tools to self-regulate and feel confident in themselves will increase comfort levels in the classroom. 

Social Safety

Social Safety focuses on creating an identity-affirming environment for all students that represents and celebrates diversity. Bullying and harassment are disproportionately rooted in issues of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, and identity. Understanding the diversity of experience and background of your student body and creating an environment that they find inclusive and welcoming is essential to eliminate risks of discrimination and exclusion in and out of the classroom. 

Potential threats to your school’s social safety include, but are not limited to:

School leadership should address both student and employee perceptions of and experiences concerning social safety to obtain a clear understanding of the community as a whole. It is your school’s responsibility to clearly communicate findings and adjust classroom and teaching procedures accordingly.

A socially safe school climate includes, but is not limited to: [How to Help All Students Feel Safe to be Themselves]

A socially safe school environment will open a range of opportunities for students to learn more about themselves and their peers. It is important for your school to understand the psychological impact of both emotionally and socially unsafe environments on the learning process in addition to potential physical threats.

Cyber Safety

Despite the wide range of benefits the internet brings to students, your faculty and staff must also have an understanding of the risk factors and threats that may be impacting your students’ well-being. In light of COVID-19, educators have utilized technology more than ever before, uncovering a need for cyber safety education and regulation.  Creating and implementing clear cyber safety policies for students and employees will teach students how to access the benefits of the internet while also understanding the dangers. Your school should evaluate existing cybersecurity regulations and work to fill the gaps to protect students from harm.

Threats to your school’s cyber safety include, but are not limited to: [Cyber Safety Considerations for K-12 Schools and School Districts]

In line with your school’s emotional and social safety concerns, threats to your school’s cyber safety can have similar impacts on a student’s emotional well-being and learning processes. It is important for educators and parents to be aware of the behaviors that may signal a breach in cyber safety.

Warning signs of cyberbullying or victimization include, but are not limited to: [Cyberbullying Warning Signs]

Administrators should also assess existing rules and protocols around cyber safety and may lead to adjustments in technology use procedures.

Preparedness and Prevention measures should include but are not limited to: [CyberSecurity Alliance]

Teaching safe internet practices is more important than ever with the rise of technology use in the classroom and at home. Improving your school’s cyber safety will help protect your students from harm and help them develop tools to use the internet safely and wisely. 

Assuring that your school has the essential information and resources for employees and students around creating a healthy learning environment requires you to address details related to physical, emotional, social, and cyber safety. Policies and procedures must be widely available and any changes to them must be communicated to students, staff, and parents to keep the community aware and accountable. This information will also empower the community to speak up when they see or hear about inappropriate behavior. It is critical that your school address all areas of safety and security to ensure that the school is a safe place to learn and grow. Learning Courage recommends involving students in the development of new protocols and procedures because it will provide leadership opportunities and help administrators gain a deeper understanding of the needs of the student body. Engaging students in the process also fosters a culture of trust between the students and teachers, which is essential in maintaining school safety. 

If You Ignore Porn, You Aren't Teaching Sex Ed

Respected educator and author, Peggy Orenstein, wrote an important opinion piece in today's NY Times. In it, she argues that the availability of porn online exposes all children to it- like it or not. And ignoring that leaves out an important tool in helping kids understand how to become good sexual citizens. We do no favor to students (and our broader community) when we ignore the presence and role of porn in the education of our children's education about sex. This position is by no means embraced by all. In fact, Orenstein's article is in response to recent outcries from parents who opposed clear, honest, age-appropriate conversations and information relating to sexuality and sex. It is a complicated discussion, but Learning Courage strongly endorses the need to provide language and information in age-appropriate lessons throughout students' education. Frankly, we know what happens when there is limited or no education, leaving kids to figure this critical social behavior out on their own. The experiment continues to fail, and we have more than enough data that supports the need for straightforward talk.

Sexual Violence Against Boys - The Key to Reducing Violence Against Women

A recent article in the Washington Post highlights the prevalence of sexual violence against boys, along with the impact on society, including increased incidents of physical and sexual violence, substance abuse, mental health and more. It's written by staff reporter, Emma Brown, who speaks from her own experience as a mother trying to raise her son. Brown writes with compelling evidence about not just the untold prevalence of violence against boys but also about how it is a critical contributor to violence against girls and women. At Learning Courage, we agree wholeheartedly with her conclusions. We clearly need more male voices talking about this to break down the deeply seeded cultural beliefs before we can effectively tackle this issue.

Risk Assessment

Minimizing risk is an important aspect of running a school. And few topics conjure as much fear in school leadership as sexual abuse and misconduct. Incidents have a large human, financial and reputational impact on an institution.  In addition to the potential physical and emotional harm caused to members of the school community and the discomfort of facing such a topic, there is the sheer time it takes to investigate a claim, the money involved, and the reputational risk that accompanies each incident and impacts applications, enrollment, and annual giving. So there is no wonder that this topic brings up deep concern for those responsible for risk management.  The good news is that you have resources to help. Perhaps your greatest ally in this work is your insurance provider. They have a vested interest in minimizing your risk in all these areas, and most underwriters have tools available to assess and address the risk that exists at your school.

Assessing risk is most useful to understand where risk exists so you can make a plan to reduce it.  These actions should be done before there is an incident rather than in response to an incident.  Below is a list of areas to assess the risk of sexual abuse and misconduct at your school:

Environmental Scan

It’s important to know where you’re starting from and what has happened in the past.  An environmental scan is the process of gathering information about trends and occurrences and their relationships - both internally and externally. The results can be both qualitative and quantitative. For example, an environmental scan will likely examine budget issues, enrollment fluctuations, fundraising opportunities, and changes in leadership. On the external side, the scan should include changes in public policy, law, economics, demographics, technology, philanthropy, etc. The environmental scan helps you identify risk and shape goals to address areas where you have risk. Performing environmental scans on a regular basis gives you data to understand the impact of your plan. 

Physical Space

Schools often think most of protecting students from dangers outside the school community. It’s also essential to consider how the physical spaces in your school help maintain appropriate boundaries for all members of the community or increase risk. This includes considering lighting, doors with windows, entrances and exits to campus and campus buildings, security cameras, and other aspects of buildings that help maintain safe environments. 

Policies and Procedures

Policies and procedures establish institutional expectations and give you a road map for holding people accountable. These details also tie very closely to the culture of your school.  The policies should underscore the attitudes and behaviors you want to see within the school community.  And for policies and procedures to be effective, they also need to be followed consistently.  Failure to follow policy creates significant risk for your school. It is essential that you review your policies and procedures annually and have a designated team with appropriate training to do so. For additional information, please see Learning Courage’s page “Best Practices In Sexual Misconduct Policies and Procedures.”

School Culture and Climate

Every community has a specific culture. Some are more obvious or easy to define than others.  The culture is an expression of values that are solidified by traditions, lore, and current behavior.  And cultures evolve with different leadership, student attitude, and outside cultural change. It’s important to recognize what the culture of your school is and how that both helps and may hinder the attitudes and behaviors you want to see in your community.  

Administrative / Committee Structure

One way to reduce risk is through planning how to respond when incidents occur. Part of that planning includes identifying the committee or individuals who need to be included in the process and establishing protocols for how to respond and who is responsible for handling the various aspects of each report. For all of these groups, we recommend the individuals receive training on how to respond to incidents in a trauma-informed, survivor-centered manner. 

Current Student Misconduct and Abuse

While we know that preventing incidents is the goal, unfortunately it is unlikely that we will successfully eliminate sexual abuse and misconduct. So it’s essential to have a plan for how to respond when incidents occur. Unlike with other school violations, it is inappropriate to include students in sexual misconduct investigations and disciplinary decisions. For more information, please see Learning Courage’s page “Investigation and Response Practices.” 

Adult Misconduct and Abuse

While less frequent, sexual misconduct incidents between adults and students can occur. You have to have a plan ready for responding to these allegations, whether they happened to existing faculty and students or to individuals who are no longer involved on a daily basis. 

Historic Misconduct and Abuse

Schools that have been operating for any significant period of time are likely to have some history of abuse. It’s the unfortunate truth. Some schools take a proactive approach and send out a letter to alumni inviting them to disclose incidents of abuse, while others prefer to take a reactive approach. At Learning Courage, we encourage schools to be proactive, and we also recognize that this decision should not be taken lightly. However, being proactive gives the school community an opportunity to heal, demonstrating the power of the community and supporting those who were harmed. For more information, please see Learning Courage’s page “Historic Misconduct and Abuse.”

Training

Training is one of the most effective ways of reducing incidents of sexual abuse and misconduct at your school. Training related to sexual abuse and misconduct creates awareness, sets expectations, and identifies responsibilities related to creating and maintaining personal boundaries, healthy relationships, and appropriate sexual interactions.

It is not sufficient to simply meet minimum training requirements. While this type of training sets an expectation, it is generally related to behavior that most would agree are egregious and obvious violations. While establishing this baseline is important, we believe that school communities need to embrace a shared responsibility to preventing sexual trauma. Doing this requires an integrated approach to training that includes a full range of topics and is followed by discussion circles. The training objective should be to create a clear understanding of how to create and maintain healthy sexual relationships and the consequences for those not adhering to that standard.        

At Learning Courage, we recommend a combination of training and roundtable discussions to solidify learning for both students and adults. We also recommend varying the training so the same topics are covered in different ways from year to year. This increases content knowledge and keeps the curriculum fresh. For more information, please see Learning Courage’s page “Prevention and Training.”

Communications

Communicating about incidents of sexual misconduct and abuse can be challenging, which is why having a plan is so important. Schools’ risk can increase dramatically if they don’t properly communicate about incidents of sexual misconduct and abuse. It is tricky to balance confidentiality and transparency, reaching the needs of multiple audiences, using an appropriate tone and understanding the frequency of communication that makes the most sense. Therefore, having a solid communication team and plan is essential to reduce risk and build trust in your school. For more information, please see Learning Courage’s page “Communications Guidelines.”

Board of Trustees

One of the main risks for schools in cases of sexual misconduct occurs when there is a lack of alignment between the administrative leadership and the Board. This can lead to inconsistent communication, leave survivors and their families with deeper trauma, and add significant time and expense to each incident, thereby leaving the school more vulnerable.

Legal

Attorneys play a critical role in understanding risk and partnering with schools. Having a good relationship with your legal counsel and ensuring they understand your school and your school’s values is crucial. In cases of sexual misconduct, their perspective should also be balanced with a consideration of how to best support the healing of the individuals who are claiming harm. 

Insurance

Look at your current policy to understand what coverage is provided. Make sure you know what is included and what isn’t.  Review also the previous policies and coverage because, in the case of historic abuse, your coverage is based on the policy your school had at the time of the incident. Knowing the coverage and the limitations for each of your policies over time will save you time and enable you to be more prepared when incidents occur. Having a strong relationship with your insurance provider will help when you are faced with any kind of hardship. Also, many insurance providers will conduct training and risk assessments for your institution. 

Risk comes in many different forms. Minimizing risk requires understanding where risk exists and creating a plan to address the areas of risk. Sometimes the risk is easy to address, such as adding lights in dark stairways or windows on classroom doors. Other times, like when the risk is embedded into the culture of the school, it takes a concerted effort that can take several years. The first step is to recognize where risk exists and then build a plan to reduce it, wherever possible measuring the results as you go.

Student Handbook

Students make up the majority of most schools’ populations. This means that the students have a critical role in influencing the culture and climate of the school, as much as - and possibly more than - the employees who, likely, will be at the institution for longer. The unspoken rules and interpretations of your school culture, frequently termed the “hidden curriculum”, often dictate pervasive attitudes and behaviors on campus.  Your student handbook sets expectations and outlines consequences. It is important that the culture of your school and your school’s handbook are aligned and that the rules you identify are followed.  Failure to align the culture and the rules create risk for your school. To ensure understanding among families, many schools combine a parent’s handbook with their student handbook.

The student handbook is a valuable tool in which your school outlines your statement of purpose and your overall commitment to student well-being and safety. The handbook can serve as the platform for your school to convey and reinforce your culture, values, and expectations. Your student handbook must therefore provide clear guidelines around your school’s sexual misconduct and abuse policy.  Be as specific as possible in your explanation of terms and expectations.  

It is imperative to reinforce these details in student or faculty-led discussions to emphasize these important rules and resources. Most people won’t spend the time needed to examine the handbook, so small discussions are critical for understanding and learning. Providing examples in your handbook of behaviors that support healthy relationships sets expectations of what you want to see, and it enables students to identify and support fellow students that may be struggling in their relationships. Use your student handbook to set the tone and establish clear expectations for healthy sexual attitudes and behavior.  

We know that the bulk of your student handbook will contain expectations and rules around academics, as well as logistics of physical aspects of the school day. Below we outline some of the topics Learning Courage thinks are essential to also include in your student handbook as they relate to sexual misconduct and abuse and healthy relationships. 

Stating Your School’s Culture 

Learning Courage believes that your student handbook should begin with your school’s mission statement and a core values statement.  It must be a source of information on your school’s culture and sets expectations for student behavior. Furthermore, your school should explain and elaborate on what actions your school will take in order to maintain a safe, healthy, and inclusive school culture. A student handbook should clearly reinforce your school values and explicitly state how those values manifest in all aspects of school life and then how they are implemented.  Recognize the ways in which your culture may not mirror your values and therefore have a larger impact on the nature of romantic and sexual relationships on campus.  Use these disconnects as opportunities for discussion to reinforce healthy behaviors and prevent misinterpretation. These details will help demonstrate your school’s commitment to student safety and well-being. For more information see our “Commitment to Student Safety and Well-being” page.

Student Safety and Wellness

Student safety and well-being is critical for all schools. Most schools have an assortment of student safety and wellness resources available to students. The most common resources are policies on school violence and emergency procedures. In addition to these, we highly recommend providing the process for reporting incidents of sexual misconduct and unsafe behavior. The student handbook should outline these different resources at your school as well as their role in helping survivors and victims of sexual misconduct and abuse in their healing processes. Example of services your school might have are:

These resources should be available in the student handbook as well as easily found on your school website. For more information see “Supportive Services” and “Crisis Response Guide” pages. 

Acknowledgment and Understanding of Material 

To abide by it, students must read and understand the handbook. A starting point for this is requiring that students acknowledge in writing they have read and will adhere to the details outlined in the handbook. The challenge is ensuring that the details within the handbook are truly understood - especially since it makes sense to affirm understanding and commitment to adhering to policies at the beginning of each academic year, at a time that can be overwhelming for students.

Learning Courage, therefore, encourages you to provide students opportunities for discussions surrounding important aspects of the handbook. Before being required to sign the acknowledgment, there could be a Q&A session or small group discussions on the content of the handbook and different scenarios that reinforce understanding. Workshops or advisory circles are another common venue where students and faculty can discuss the handbook before signing their acknowledgment of the content. Residential life programs, where applicable, offer still another platform for discussion. Furthermore, your school should encourage conversations throughout each year related to misconduct to support a culture of safety and transparency of the expectations of the handbook. Your students should understand and be comfortable with what they are agreeing to. 

Making your student handbook public on your website is a decision for each school. While you may have concerns about making the student handbook available on your public website, we recommend you consider this because it demonstrates your willingness to share your clear, transparent expectations, guidelines, and consequences for attitudes and behavior at your school. It also demonstrates how you uphold these standards and hold the community accountable to them. Making this information available to the public also can be a great way to signal your commitment to student safety to prospective students and their families. 

At a minimum, your school should use the website to clearly list resources and define terms relating to sexual misconduct and abuse. Most importantly, this document should be readily available for all enrolled students to use as a resource whether it is published on the public website or not.

Sexual Harassment, Misconduct and Abuse Policies

This part of the student handbook is a place of opportunity for your school to clearly label and define sexual harassment, misconduct, and abuse, and show how your school will place itself in the best position to create a transparent culture around these topics. You want there to be no doubt what these terms mean and how community members can get support if they were to experience one of them. If it is clear what constitutes harassment, misconduct, and abuse at your school, it will also allow you to engage in more thorough, thoughtful investigation processes. Some incidents at your school might fall into multiple categories such as hazing that occurs with sexual violence or bullying that takes place via sexual harassment. It is therefore important that all of these terms are defined clearly in the handbook for students' information. 

For more information surrounding sexual misconduct, abuse, and harassment policies see:

Reporting Requirements 

Informing your student body on the many factors regarding reporting requirements will ideally help your students feel protected when talking to adults on campus. Your school may have different reporting requirements for harassment and sexual misconduct and abuse, but they should be clear. Mandatory reporting roles vary by school, and laws vary by state. All adults and students must know who are the mandated reporters and what that person is required to do with the information shared. If your state does not designate all adults as mandatory reporters, community members need to know with whom they are able to speak. It is also important to outline the implications (i.e., whether the information is sent to the police or not) of reporting information to certain members of the community. 

There are many different companies that provide anonymous reporting and whistleblower services. Learning Courage recommends your school consider using an anonymous reporting option. That information should be easy for everyone to access and use. Ideally, it should be on your school’s website as well as in the handbook. Learning Courage also recommends that you include other resources for students who may not want to report their experiences (i.e., Rape Crisis Center, National Suicide Hotline, etc.) For more information see the “Reporting Requirements” page. 

Resources 

Schools are designed to serve their students. Creating supportive, safe spaces for students to be successful is every school's goal. For students to be and feel safe, they must know what resources are available to them. You should be honest and transparent regarding the resources you can provide to students and explain these resources in the handbook. Some resources that your school should provide and explain in the handbook include but are not limited to:

Terms and Definitions

Include a section for terms and definitions related to sexual misconduct and abuse. You will signal to students and adults in your community your understanding and commitment to student safety and well-being. Furthermore, using these words will help your school articulate its desired culture in a very precise way. Many students may not have a full understanding of these terms, so it is important to thoroughly define them. For comprehensive definitions of the aforementioned words visit Learning Courage’s “Definition of Terms” page. 

Your school should be aware that the aforementioned topics are not exhaustive. There will be other aspects of student life that are mentioned here that should be covered in the handbook, especially topics outside of the scope of sexual misconduct and abuse that are not mentioned here. It is essential that you adapt your handbook to the culture and experiences of your specific institution. 

COVID-19 Related Implications in Education

The internet and online tools have expanded opportunities for learning by enabling the creation of more models of learning and reducing previously limiting geographic and other significant barriers to learning.  Online learning also brings students and teachers out of the classroom and into more private spaces, potentially blurring boundaries that conventional classroom settings establish.  While the hope is that the changes schools have had to make because of the Covid-19 pandemic will not extend beyond this academic year, it’s essential to consider how these current adaptations create an increased risk for students and educators. It is likely that schools will adopt new technology going forward to offer online platforms for learning in some capacity. Therefore, we anticipate that these findings will remain relevant beyond the pandemic.

Sexual misconduct and abuse can occur in any place and at any time, which includes online spaces. This can make it difficult to identify because misconduct and abuse are often done in private spaces and may be done using phones and computers. This document is designed to help you understand where those risks are so you can address them. 

What is Online Sexual Misconduct and Abuse?

Perhaps the most obvious thing to consider is the fact that much more teaching and learning is being done online.  Classes are online.  Meetings are online. Students are meeting together to work on projects online, and these interactions are conducted throughout the day and night.  So increased online misconduct is an ongoing and significant concern for schools to consider. 

“Online sexual exploitation and abuse is when one person manipulates another person to get them to do something sexual — it’s an ongoing cycle of emotional and psychological abuse. This can include things such as forcing or blackmailing someone into to sending sexual photos/videos of themselves online or to perform sexual acts over webcam.” [READ What is online sexual exploitation and abuse?] Not only does this have the potential to create emotional and psychological abuse for the victim, but the online transfer of sexually explicit photos of minors is considered child pornography and can lead to serious legal consequences as well. Online sexual misconduct is not limited to adult-student contact; it also includes adult to adult and student to student online interactions. Most schools have acceptable use policies that articulate their rules regarding online behavior, sexting, and more. 

Online Sexual Misconduct and Abuse includes but is not limited to: 

When sexual misconduct and abuse occur online it presents with some unique signs and symptoms compared to the signs and symptoms of sexual misconduct that occur offline. In order to spot online sexual misconduct, communities should be looking out for different behaviors in online usage as well as changing trends in technological privacy from students. These include but are not limited to spending increased time online, attempting to hide their online usage from peers, becoming agitated when they lose control of their technology, becoming possessive of their technology, not being able to communicate what they are doing online to others, vague explanations of new friends they have made and more. 

Signs of online misconduct include but are not limited to: [Warning Signs a Young Person May Be a Target of Online Sexual Abuse]

How to Reduce Risk 

It is therefore important for schools, parents, and students to work together to make sure everyone understands what is appropriate and what is not, signs to look for, and how to address it if there are concerns.  Students, in particular, need to understand the implications and long-term consequences and what to do if they believe an issue should be reported because it is often the students who will see changes in their peers’ behaviors.   

Protecting Students

Protecting students includes providing structure around expectations for behavior. Identify all applicable rules, then educate students and parents so they understand their roles and what is expected. In addition to providing policies and rules in writing, consider hosting an orientation to online learning. That way all students and their families are on the same page.

Some techniques to maintain a safe remote learning environment [Guidance for Title IX Administrators During COVID-19] : 

The Covid-19 pandemic has created an environment where children may be forced into closer contact when there is abuse happening at home. For many, school is a place of safety where they can escape their abuser. The pandemic affected the availability of health services and increased isolation. Therefore, it is critical that your employees are trained in recognizing signs and symptoms of sexual misconduct and abuse. Notify and remind employees and, especially mandated reporters, of their obligation for student safety. For more information, please see Learning Courage’s page on “Signs and Symptoms.”

Children have a difficult enough time navigating online behavior and social media. The effects of online harassment can have devastating consequences. [Impact of online sexual harassment] The opportunity for misconduct, abuse, and harassment has grown exponentially. With the recent pandemic, teachers and students moving to “distant learning” have introduced yet another layer. Your school should set very clear expectations, to both students and employees, on proper boundaries and behaviors. There is no federal law on cyberbullying (which some online sexual abuse falls under), so it is up to each individual state. Make sure your school has consulted with your legal counsel and reviewed your state laws to help set your policy. [Cyberbullying Laws at the State Level]

Pandemic Specific Restorative Justice

Restorative justice measures can be a useful tool for helping children readjust to a classroom after long breaks or major changes in how they are taught. We have included a list of resources designed for school communities to help with these transitions: 

RJ activities for kids returning to school after covid

National Conflict Resolution Center Scenarios

Restorative Practices in the San Diego School District | NCRC