New Guidance At a Glance: A Training Guide for Administrators and Educators on Addressing Adult Sexual Misconduct in the School Setting

To help schools and school districts better understand adult sexual misconduct (ASM) and develop related policies and procedures, training for ASM awareness and prevention, A Training Guide for Administrators and Educators on Addressing Adult Sexual Misconduct in the School Setting (ASM Training Guide), was released by the U.S. Department of Education (ED), Office of Safe and Supportive Schools (OSSS) and its Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools (REMS) Technical Assistance (TA) Center. We are pleased to announce that we have transformed this guidance document into a NEW “At a Glance” version on the REMS TA Center Website to provide you with Web-based, user-friendly access to this important information, which also recognizes the role of social media and technology in ASM. The ASM Training Guide At a Glance section supports education agencies in updating their emergency operations plans (EOPs) and/or related ASM policies and procedures to align with national, state, and local recommendations in a clear and digestible format.

Find this new section within the “Guidance” tab located on the REMS TA Center Website’s upper navigation panel. Select “K-12 Adult Sexual Misconduct Prevention,” and navigate through the guidance using the “Next” and “Previous” buttons found at the bottom of the screen or the “Explore This Section” button on the left that slides out a menu of the section’s pages. This convenient button provides you with direct access to any page and allows you to jump around to specific chapters within the ASM Training Guide at your own discretion.

Overview of the ASM Training Guide

The ASM Training Guide provides information that can assist schools and school districts in safeguarding the well-being of the whole school community by demonstrating a strong commitment to eliminate behaviors known as ASM. The ASM Training Guide outlines policies and procedures that describe appropriate, allowable behaviors while also identifying inappropriate and illegal actions. These policies and procedures are geared toward school personnel, including teachers, coaches, administrative staff, bus drivers, and others who interact with children before, during, and after school. The ASM Training Guide includes guidelines and knowledge to help protect students by training staff on how to prevent ASM; recognize signs of ASM; report potential cases of ASM to appropriate community partners; and respond meaningfully in the case of an incident by providing immediate, short-term, and long-term support to the victim.

More ASM Trainings and Resources

In recognition of the criticality of addressing and preventing ASM in the school setting, the REMS TA Center and ED OSSS have collaboratively created additional resources for school districts, schools, and institutions of higher education (IHEs) to use with their community partners on this topic. These resources include training opportunities that align with and complement both the ASM Training Guide and the ASM Training Guide At a Glance.

• Archived Webinar: Addressing Adult Sexual Misconduct in the School Setting: An Overview. Provides an overview of ASM and how schools can address this issue through the framework of their EOP. This virtual training includes recommendations for preventing incidences of ASM through the development of appropriate policies and procedures, as well as implementing effective training of school personnel.
   
• Specialized Training Package: Addressing and Preventing Adult Sexual Misconduct. Contains a 90-minute training module to support K-12 practitioners and planning teams with their training efforts to better understand ASM in schools and develop more comprehensive policies and procedures for preventing and addressing it. This downloadable module is for use by school safety practitioners to provide training. The module includes a presentation with speaker’s notes, instructions, and a copy of the ASM Training Guide.
   
• Topic-Specific Resources Web Page: Addressing Adversarial and Human-Caused Threats That May Impact Students, Staff, and Visitors. Offers a variety of Federal agency partner resources related to planning for adversarial and human-caused threats, including ASM, that may affect school districts, schools, IHEs, community partners, and parents.

If you have any questions or need additional assistance,
please contact the REMS TA CENTER at 1-855-781-REMS [7367]
or via email at info@remstacenter.org