Opinion: Sexual harassment protocol accessibility

All by-lined opinion pieces reflect the opinion of the author only, not necessarily those of the Editorial Board, adviser and the rest of the staff. This is also part of a package, to read the news piece click here.

Over the past few months, I delved into researching the district’s protocol in response to claims of sexual harassment, conducting interviews with Deputy Superintendent and Title IX Coordinator Liz Cotter, talking with Counselor Sarah Gammans, surfing through the student handbook, the district website and reading through several board policies. 

Throughout gathering information, I have concluded that while Northview certainly has the framework in place to support harassed students, the district does not provide enough access to the steps and resources needed to report sexual harassment.  

First of all, the basic procedure of reporting harassment and the investigation to follow is completely described in school board policies, specifically in policy 5517. It states that students can report to any teacher or counselor, who will tell either Assistant Principal Brett Dickerson or Principal Mark Thomas. They will then inform the Title IX Directors, which consists of Cotter and Athletic Director Patrick Marsman. The school will conduct an investigation and, if needed, involve the police in order to perform a criminal investigation. 

However, this information is hardly easy to obtain. For one thing, there are tons of policies to sift through; the only reason I knew to look at policy 5517 was due to Cotter’s guidance. It is unreasonable to expect students to hunt down the policies for themselves. 

Cotter agreed about the difficulty. 

“My guess is that a lot of students and probably some staff, too, don’t go and look at the board policies,” Cotter said. “There are a lot of board policies that are really wordy and most people just probably don’t know to go there.” 

Some could argue that it’s common sense for a student to report harassment to a trusted adult working in the district, but, no matter what, the school has a responsibility to ensure students understand the rights they are inherently entitled to. 

Furthermore, when I went through the student handbook, the only mention of sexual harassment was on what qualifies as such on page 65 and that, on page 63, “In compliance with State law, the Board shall permanently expel any student who possesses a dangerous weapon in a weapon-free school zone or commits either arson or criminal sexual conduct in a District building or on District property, including school buses and other school transportation.”

There is nothing on how to actually report an act of sexual harassment. 

I came across a subsection within board policy 5517.01 entitled “Notifications” which said, among other things,“Notice of this policy will be annually circulated to and posted in conspicuous locations in all school buildings and departments within the District and discussed with students, as well as incorporated into the teacher, student, and parent/guardian handbooks. State and Federal rights posters on discrimination and harassment shall also be posted at each building.” 

The policy in question is concerning bullying and harassment in general. 

I have never seen such posters. The only thing that comes to mind are posters taped up on the bathroom stalls with crisis hotlines made a few years ago by a former Roar staff member. 

In response, I went to the counseling office to ask if they had any flyers relating to sexual harassment, and Christine Atchison, the main administrator for the department, directed me to head of the department and Guidance Counselor Sarah Gammans. 

While Gammans did not provide me with resources at the initial meeting, she did discuss a lot about the newly implemented mental health resources the counselors provide. 

Additionally, when I spoke with her a few weeks later, Gammans clarified that while the department doesn’t have any flyers with resources to give students, all of the counselors do have resources not affiliated with the district that they can tell students about and recommend. She also disclosed that the department acts as a “triage” for victims and the organizations they can reach out to. 

A major, local social service organization Gammans suggested was YWCA. 

However, a problem that I noticed was, once more, the inaccessibility of this information. It’s important to note here that it is not necessarily the counseling office’s sole responsibility or fault that there isn’t easy accessibility to these resources for students; it is an issue the district needs to address. 

If a student wanted to find the links for themselves, they would need to first go to Mavin, then App Links, then the second tab under that, entitled “COO-Counseling Office Opportunities-January 31, 2022.” At that point, they would scroll down to page four of the document and click the link embedded within “Mental Health Resource Guide” under the section “SOCIAL/EMOTIONAL AND WELLBEING,” where the student would be brought to another document. 

In spite of being difficult to acquire, this particular document is extremely beneficial. It holds both local and national options not only for sexual harassment, but also for sensitive subjects, such as suicide or health information. 

Nonetheless, finding the resources takes the knowledge of where to find it and the workload of sifting through Mavin, which is a task in and of itself. With the sheer amount of information on the website, finding a specific link can be hard. 

Again, accessibility is key. 

One of the things that I took away most from my interview with Gammans was when she revealed that the counseling department has an influx of students coming to them for help after giving those beginning-of-the-year presentations, especially now that the department incorporates the mental health bit. 

This simple causation is proof that accessibility and discussion leads to better support for students. 

As I said at the beginning, the Northview School District has the capacity to support students but struggles in providing attainability to the student body. There are ways to fix this.

One answer that I have been insinuating has been the idea of tacking up posters to the wall that lists the steps in reporting sexual harassment. This would provide an easy way to show that the district does have readily available procedures to help those who have been sexually harassed. 

No matter what, I believe that there needs to be discussion concerning sexual harassment, whether that be in the form of the councelor presentations or an assembly or any other means. 

I was unaware of what the procedure for reporting harassment was prior to my investigation for this article. When I asked around, the students I talked to told me they didn’t know any of it, either. In fact, many were surprised to discover that Marsman wasn’t the only district Title IX Coordinator. 

Evidently, providing students even with reassuring words like “you can talk to us” pushes them to reach out for that support. Northview needs to step it up and supply all students with a better ability to access the tools needed to uncover how to report cases of sexual harassment and what to do from there. 

“I just want to make sure students know they have a place to go, that [administration] take[s] it seriously,” Cotter said. “We want to make sure that they know that.” 

Preventative measures, particularly in the form of education and raising awareness, is quintessential in providing a safer environment for all students and teachers. 

For a detailed description and chart regarding the district sexual harassment policies and procedure, read my article “Steps to report sexual harassment.” 

For resources outside of the district, read “Sexual harassment resources.”