Educating Teachers on Mandated Reporting

We wrote an earlier post about an elementary school principal in San Jose, California, who was convicted of misdemeanor failing to report suspected child abuse after a mother and her daughter told the principal about a second-grade teacher who acted "strangely" while alone with the girl in a classroom.

In Brentwood, California, the school district paid $950,000 to settle a lawsuit against one of its special education teachers, Dina Holder, who pleaded no contest to misdemeanor child abuse after throwing a five-year-old special needs student onto the floor and kicking him. The teacher's aides reported the incident to the school principal who waited two days before calling Child Protective Services (CPS), and never submitted a follow-up written report as required by law.

As a result of reports like these, the Bay Area News Group conducted a survey of California school districts and found that less than half that responded had provided annual training on recognizing and reporting suspected child abuse.  And, some districts didn't understand what the law requires. For example, some districts require employees to first report suspected abuse to school administrators rather than calling the authorities. However, the law requires mandated reporters to report their suspicions directly to CPS or police – reporting to school administrators does not fulfill their legal duty.

This survey prompted California's State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Tom Torlakson, to send a letter to all school districts, requesting information about their child abuse training.  Torlakson also said he would support legislation to strengthen the state's mandated reporter law.

California Assemblywoman Joan Buchanan has introduced legislation that would require all school districts to adopt policies outlining child abuse reporting requirements and to review those policies annually with all employees.

However, William Grimm, senior attorney at Oakland's National Center for Youth Law, doesn't think the proposed legislation goes far enough. "A large part of the problem is the district's failure to provide training that helps school staff understand what should be reported. Until training is mandated for all school staff, there will continue to be victims whose suffering goes unreported."

Principal Sentenced to Teach

In the second "failure to report" case in two decades brought by Santa Clara County prosecutors, O.B. Whaley Elementary School's former principal, Lyn Vijayendran, was convicted of failing to report suspected sexual abuse of a student by one of her teachers.

The judge told Vijayendran "you made a very bad judgment that day," then sentenced her to pay $602 in criminal fines, two years of probation, and 100 hours of community service, which will include helping teach other school officials about their legal duty to report suspected child abuse.

The jury forewoman said Vijayendran "dropped the ball." Another juror said the principal "stuck her head in the sand rather than pull the alarm. I think she didn't want this ugly thing to be true."

The eight-year-old girl's mother told Vijayendran that second-grade teacher Craig Chandler had acted "strangely" with her daughter, and showed the principal a suspicious stain on her daughter's jacket.  Vijayendran then interviewed the girl who provided vivid details of her strange encounter with Mr. Chandler.

Vijayendran testified that Mr. Chandler "appeared forthright" when he told her that blindfolding a second-grade girl, telling her to lie on the floor, and putting a salty liquid in her mouth while they were alone in the classroom was part of a lesson plan about Helen Keller.

Vijayendran's decision to conduct her own investigation, instead of reporting the incident to authorities as the law requires of mandatory reporters, resulted in her criminal conviction and allowed Mr. Chandler to molest another student a few months later.

Under California law, school districts are required to train their educators how to recognize and report suspected child abuse. While the law provides an exception — a school district may simply write a letter explaining why training was not provided — jurors said the Evergreen School District shared some responsibility in this case.

"I think there were comments made that over a 20-year period, that people from the teachers all the way up to the principals all the way up to HR that they've received no training on mandatory reporting," said juror Kathy Ericksen. Juror Susan LaGassa agreed, "Educators need to know that this is unacceptable."

"The bigger picture," said prosecutor Alison Filo, "is we want mandated reporters to understand to always err on the side of caution and report, never investigate."

Costly Reporting Delay

A kindergarten teacher in Wichita, Kansas, was forced to resign and her teaching license was revoked because she delayed reporting suspected child abuse to authorities.  Donna Ford had taught for 17 years when she failed to comply with her school's policy requiring her to report suspected abuse "on the same day the suspicion arises."

Apparently, Ford informed the school principal, social worker, and counselor about her suspicion that a 6-year-old girl in her class was being abused by a teenager who was living in the child's home.  However, when she tried to report her suspicions to state authorities, her computer malfunctioned and it was over a week later when she finally submitted her report  — after the girl's mother advised Ford and other school officials that the teenager no longer lived with them.

Ford's supporters say she was unfairly punished, while a national support group for abuse victims called it "a powerful statement that protecting children is not something to be taken lightly."

In our previous post, we wrote about the Connecticut Supreme Court case that denied a school principal the right to sue after being fired for reporting child abuse.  When confronted with conflicting laws, policies, and people's reactions to child abuse, these cases remind us to keep focused on the children:  as a spokesperson for the Kansas Department of Social and Rehabilitation Services said, "When you're talking about the well-being – and survival, in some cases – of a child, it's better to err on the side of caution."

Can Report But Can't Sue

All 50 states, the US territories, and the District of Columbia provide legal immunity from lawsuits or criminal prosecution for reporting suspected child abuse. In addition, many states also protect employees who report abuse from workplace retaliation.

While some states make it relatively easy for employees to sue to enforce their rights, others may require a state agency to take legal action.

One Connecticut school principal learned this lesson the hard way. Under Connecticut law, employers are forbidden from retaliating against an employee who reports suspected child abuse. If they do, the law authorizes the state Attorney General to sue the employer.

So, when principal Carmen Perez-Dickson was demoted and later suspended after reporting two incidents of suspected child abuse, she sued the school board for retaliation. After a trial, the jury awarded her over $2 million.

Unfortunately for the former principal, the Connecticut Supreme Court overturned her verdict. Although Perez-Dickson was correct in principle that she could not legally be fired for reporting abuse, she erred by assuming that she could sue to vindicate her rights. Instead, the Court ruled that only the Connecticut Attorney General was legally authorized to prosecute employers who retaliate against employees for reporting child abuse. [Perez-Dickson v. Bridgeport (CT 2012)]

What's a "Reasonable Suspicion"?

Deciding to call the authorities because you suspect a child risks being harmed requires a judgment call about what's a "reasonable suspicion."

For example, our first story involves a four-year-old girl who drew a picture at school of a man with a gun. Does this raise a reasonable suspicion of child mistreatment?  Her teacher in Ontario, Canada, thought so and called the child protective agency.  When her father arrived to pick up his children, he was handcuffed, arrested, and strip searched. However, after searching the family's home, the only gun found was a toy.

Or, do you have reasonable suspicion of a child predator if you see an older white man wearing a camouflage jacket and blue jeans standing at a school bus stop? After one mom in a Philadelphia suburb approached the man offering help, he walked away without saying anything — so she called the police. The police notified the school, children were kept in their classrooms during recess, and an email alert was sent to parents asking them to call 911 immediately if they saw this "suspicious" person. It turns out that the man was a new resident of the community and, instead of being welcomed with a plate of cookies, he was questioned by police about why he was standing at a school bus stop.

The third story involves a text message about a Georgia school that was sent by an unknown sender: "gunman be at west hall today." Does this raise a reasonable suspicion of a planned school shooting? After law enforcement learned of the text message, they told school officials to go into lockdown. It turned out that the sender was all thumbs: the auto correct feature on the sender's cellphone had changed "gunna" to "gunman," and the corrected message was accidentally sent to the wrong number. The fact that this happened three days after a school shooting in Ohio helps explain the concern.

Finally, what about a four-year-old girl who was punished by rubbing her mouth until her lips swelled? Even though the abuse was reported to the police in the summer of 2011, the first prosecutor to review the girl's case decided that her mother's boyfriend hadn't violated North Dakota's corporal punishment law. The police continued their investigation, finding that the girl also had bruises on her face and neck which she said happened when she slipped in the shower. Also, the mother's boyfriend first told investigators that the girl injured herself while riding her bike, and then later admitted that he had rubbed her face because she wet the bed. The second prosecutor who reviewed the case charged the boyfriend with felony child abuse, punishable by up to 10 years in jail.

So, when deciding if you've got "reasonable suspicion," ask yourself:

"Would someone with average judgment, who saw or heard what I did, also be suspicious?"

If so, it's reasonable. And while you may not always be right, when you are, a child may be saved from harm.

Senate Hearing Advises Training

Today, the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families held a hearing on the need for a federal law requiring the reporting of child abuse and neglect.

During the hearing, child advocacy experts testified that training adults is the single most important step in detecting and preventing child mistreatment. For example:

• Dr. Robert Block, President of the American Academy of Pediatrics, emphasized the importance of educating adults about what is and is not abuse. He also recommended educating kids about inappropriate adult behavior.
• Teresa Huizar, Executive Director of the National Children's Alliance, recommended that adult training be tied to certification and licensing of professionals working with children.
• Erin Sutton, the Assistant Commissioner for Minnesota Children & Family Services, noted that education about mistreatment reduces the number of false reports and enhances the value of child protective services' scarce resources.

If you're looking for training, we can help. Shield the Vulnerable offers interactive online training courses in all 50 states (as well as the ten Canadian provinces) on how to recognize and report child abuse and neglect.

Each state-specific course identifies who are legally mandated reporters, explains the "what-when-and-how" of making an official report, and includes a Quick Reference Guide with the state's rules and contact information. Plus, we also offer several online child safety training courses containing age-appropriate content.