Sexual Harassment Among Students Staff Training

1. Sexual Harassment Among StudentsStaff Training Sexual Harassment and Assault Prevention Program (SHAPP) (Insert School District) Public Schools Training Date: (Insert Date)

2. Vision (and/or Mission) Statement The vision (and/or mission) of (school district) Public Schools is to (insert district vision/mission statement here)

3. SHAPP Goals and Objectives • Highlight your district’s SHAPP goals/objectives pertaining to sexual harassment in bullet form • Use your discretion as to whether all SHAPP objectives should be listed here or simply those related to sexual harassment. If the latter is chosen, you may want to briefly mention that additional program objectives are beyond the scope of this training and will be covered in other program-related trainings/activities. • Include statement that draws clear and direct link between SHAPP goals/objectives on sexual harassment and school district vision

4. What is Sexual Harassment? Definition: • Unwelcome sexual advances • Requests for sexual favors • Other inappropriate verbal, written or physical conduct of a sexual nature • Sexist terminology

5. What Is Sexual Harassment? (con’t) Employee-to-Student: • Submission to the advance is made explicitly or implicitly a condition of student’s academic advancement • Submission to or rejection of advance is used as the basis for decisions affecting student’s academic advancement • Advance unreasonably interferes with the student’s academic performance or creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive learning environment

6. What Is Sexual Harassment? (con’t) Student-to-Student: • Also called “peer sexual harassment” • Examples include: • Sexual comments, gestures, jokes or looks • Being touched, grabbed or pinched in a sexual way • “Flashing” or “mooning” • Spreading sexual rumors

7. What Is Sexual Harassment? (con’t) Student-to-Student • Examples (con’t): • Clothing pulled at, off or down in a sexual way • Being shown or given sexual messages, pictures or notes • Forced kissing • Forced to do something sexual other than kissing • Being called gay or lesbian • Being spied on while dressing or showering

8. Types of Sexual Harassment • Quid Pro Quo “This for that” – sexual bribery • Hostile Environment A learning environment that interferes with student’s ability to function normally without intimidation, fear, anxiety and the like

9. Effects of Sexual Harassment • Perpetrator • Victim • School environment

10. Effects of Sexual Harassment Perpetrator • In general, little is known about subsequent effects of sexual harassment on perpetrators, though research suggests that, if gone unaddressed, unhealthy relational behaviors may continue through developmental stages in different forms, e.g. bullying in children, sexual harassment in adolescents, dating violence in adolescence and young adulthood (Stein, 1999) • Basis – unhealthy beliefs about interpersonal relations

11. Effects of Sexual Harassment Perpetrator • Bullying and dominant behavior among boys entering middle school predict sexual harassment by the end of middle school (Pellegrini, in press) • High probability of recurrences with victim or other individuals if harassment goes unaddressed

12. Effects of Sexual Harassment Victim • Psychological – feelings of being violated, self-consciousness, fear, embarrassment, anxiousness, decreased self-confidence, confusion over what is happening and what to do • Physical – symptoms of stress such as headaches and stomachaches

13. Effects of Sexual Harassment Victim • Behavioral – avoidance of places in school, changes to route to/from school, avoidance of particular activities • Impacts on academic performance – difficulty concentrating, skipping class, truancy

14. Effects of Sexual Harassment School Environment • Feelings of hopelessness and powerlessness among bystanders in their ability to stop the harassment • Persistent harassment can create an environment that feels unsafe, threatening and intimidating to all students

15. Signs of Sexual Harassment Teachers may see abrupt changes in a student’s • Level of participation in class, attendance and grades • Social involvement with particular friends or specific activities • Self-confidence, mood

16. Extent of Need • (Enter district-specific data from surveys, assessments, etc. implemented with respect to sexual harassment) • (Enter here and on following slide(s))

17. SHAPP Strategies to Prevent Sexual Harassment • (Enter district’s plan to address sexual harassment in schools) • (Enter specific how-to’s for staff to implement SHAPP plan) • (Enter here and on following slide(s))

18. Evaluating Strategies to Prevent Sexual Harassment • (Enter district’s plan to evaluate sexual harassment prevention plan) • (Enter specific role of staff to evaluate the plan, include as many step-by-step how-to’s as possible) • (Enter here and on following slide(s))

19. References Hostile Hallways: The AAUW Survey on Sexual Harassment in America’s Schools (1993). American Association of University Women. Maryland State Department of Education. Title IX and Gender Equity. Retrieved February 1, 2006, from Maryland State Department of Education Web site: http://www.marylandpublicschools.org National Association of State Boards of Education. Sexual harassment in schools. Alexandria, Virginia. 1998. Pellegrini, A.D., (in press). Aggression, dominance, and sexual harassment during the transition to middle school. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology. Stein, N. (1999). Classrooms and courtrooms: Facing sexual harassment in k-12 schools. New York: Teachers College Press.

20. Acknowledgments We would like to thank Darleen Kahl, Safe and Drug Free Schools Coordinator, Charles County Public Schools, for her significant contributions to the conceptualization and development of this presentation.

21. SHAPP Contact Information Main Contact: (Name) (Phone) (Email) Secondary Contact: (Name) (Phone) (Email)