JEFFERSON CITY — A bill that would expand child abuse protections and require sexual harassment training for students in sixth grade and older continues to make its way through the legislature.
The bill, which already passed the House, would require full disclosure between school districts about an employee regarding abusive behavior toward a student, and it would require schools to ask a prospective employee’s former school for this information before hiring.
It would require annual sexual abuse training for students starting in sixth grade, with the option for parents to opt-out. The training would be developed by the Department of Secondary Education. The bill would also add 2.5 hours of training for new school board members and a minimum of one hour “refresher” training for returning board members.
Bill sponsor Rep. Rocky Miller, R-Lake Ozark, said during a Senate hearing Tuesday that the training will be focused on “identifying signs of sexual abuse and potentially abusive relationships between adults and children” and will “help protect students from sexual misconduct from an employee.”
Jessica Seitz, with Missouri KidsFirst, works with children who suffer from abuse and neglect. She testified for the bill Tuesday, saying it “will make sure that our schools are not institutions that cover up child abuse.”
A 2004 U.S. Department of Education report estimates “more than 4.5 million students are subject to sexual misconduct by an employee of a school sometime between kindergarten and 12th grade.”
To address that problem, Seitz said, “schools must be engaged in this effort.”
Sen. Jill Schupp, D-Creve Coeur, herself a former school board member, questioned the training for school board members, noting that members do not usually have direct contact with students.
Miller said, since school boards are responsible for implementing policies that protect students, the training will help them be more effective.
Schupp also said she hopes the student training will start at younger ages eventually.
The bill also received support Tuesday for its language expanding the definition of who is responsible for the care, custody and control of a child to go beyond a child’s teacher to include “school personnel, contractors and volunteers, if the relationship with the child was established through the school or through school related activities,” even if misconduct or abuse does not take place at school.
