New rules to limit student-teacher contact are debated at CCSD forum

By Ricardo Torres-Cortez

Friday, June 16, 2017 | 2 a.m.

Following a string of arrests of school employees accused of inappropriate and sexual contact with students this past year, the Clark County School District and community partners Thursday night outlined and discussed new policy and regulation proposals geared toward curbing the trend.

The modest gathering at Chaparral High School listened in on the “Protect Our Kids” panel discussion, which featured district officials, police, a county prosecutor, a teacher and student.

This was an opportunity for the roughly 75 parents, teachers and advocates in attendance to ask questions and express their concerns on the newly drafted policy proposal, set to extend background checks, further regulate off-campus communication, update training and establish a standard for reporting inappropriate behavior.

Their input and the opinions of the nearly 1,500 people, who as of Thursday night had completed an online survey, will be taken into consideration for an updated draft that will be taken up by the CCSD Board of Trustees in July and August meetings.

The survey will remain open until June 25.

A couple of teachers shared their concerns with the proposals regarding out-of-school communications.

One of them told the panel that it was disheartening that parents wanted to restrict texting because she said that's how she's communicated and cheered up students or helped them when they needed aid, and that's also sometimes the best way to get a hold of them or remind them about school-related deadlines.

Teacher Ryan Fromoltz agreed.

He said that colleagues he's spoken to approved of the expanded background checks, which under the new proposal, would expand to all district employees who are in the position to be left alone with students.

But Fromoltz said that the communication restrictions would fall under a "gray area" in situations when a teacher may need to get a hold of a student in unforeseen situations.

Donald Baum, a father of two CCSD students, showed frustration as he directed his attention to district Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky during the question and answer period. His grievance included how parents find out about allegations of sexual misconduct — via media reports.

“My concern is this: We have not heard anything from you, sir,” Baum said. A policy enacted recently has involved officials issuing press releases soon after arrests are made.

Baum said those releases should go further in informing the public about an alleged perpetrator, such as the last time a background check was conducted.

He later told reporters that the policy draft was “horribly” and vaguely written. “The parents are being completely kept in the dark as to any and all communications concerning the allegations.”

"This is a no-good policy for everybody involved," Baum said.

He did appreciate that officials have reached out to third-party experts, legal consultants, students and teachers, he said.

The panel opined that more work still has to be done but that the latest proposals are a step in the right direction.

Allegations of sexual misconduct are a serious matter for the Clark County District Attorney's Office no matter what the number is, Chief Deputy D.A. James Sweetin said. In any child's development, school should be a positive and safe learning environment for them.

"Parents deserve to know their (children) are protected and watched over, he said, adding that any violators need to be held accountable.

Clark County School Board member Kevin Child said the district needs to work with parents and teachers to make sure students are safe and adults are trained right. He said he wished the theater would have filled up but expressed hope. "We care about you; that's why we're here."

With effort from everybody involved, “We can break this cycle,” Skorkwsky said.

Some of the proposed changes

Background checks will be extended to all employees — such as volunteers, part-time staff, coaches, trainers and vendors — with unsupervised and direct contact with students.

Student communication

Should be conducted in an honest, professional, respectful manner and restricted to education-related and other developmental-appropriate topics.

Employees are required to use pre-approved methods that are able to log conversations.

Employees cannot communicate with students on personal social media accounts. They're allowed to create separate social medial accounts with a work-issued email address.

Employees cannot text individual students with the exception of an emergency situation. They're allowed to text students in a group conversation.

Reporting possible misconduct

All district employees must immediately report any potential sexual misconduct to school police.

Training

If new proposals move forward, the school district will update the training provided to its employees. Those who qualify for background checks will also be required to watch a video and pass a test on it afterward, and sign a form acknowledging they did.

For more information, visit ccsd.net.