School sexual abuse is growing in the U.S. Dr. Rhodes is a 35+ year teacher, administrator, school board member and an Expert Witness in school-related court cases. Rhodes testifies in these tragic cases, and shares the shocking outcomes in some that went on for even 8-10 years before being exposed. Nobody likes talking about this ugly reality, yet we all care and want it to stop. There are at least 20 understandable reasons why school staff are reluctant to share what they fear may be happening to a child. Efforts of state and health agencies fall flat in the face of workplace cultures of fear that value the code of silence. Many states have mandatory training, but it's aimed at "Stranger Danger," and focused on student actions of reporting to adults, not the use of mandatory reporting as a key strategy. On staff, "Keeping your head down" as a survival strategy is common, and for good reason. Let's blow it all open and dig into why this occurs, who the abuse perpetrators are, why they ever get hired, and why they don't get caught or caught sooner. Audiences will be engaged in assessing the actions, fears and misunderstandings about the systems that are supposed to prevent such abuse. Who can solve this problem? In schools and other child-serving organizations, it's the mandatory reporters ourselves, but only if we embrace our most critical role in prevention and reduction of such abuse. Audiences will learn the 20 very understandable reasons that "reporters don't report," and be able to apply those learnings to our own institutions and our own work. It's not about blaming, it's about changing the work culture for everyone in the building.
