FINAL BILL REPORT

HB 2597

C 48 L 16

Synopsis as Enacted

Brief Description: Requiring school districts to include sexual abuse as a topic in plans addressing students' emotional or behavioral distress.

Sponsors: Representatives Orwall, Magendanz, Reykdal, McBride, Lytton, Caldier, Frame, Rossetti, S. Hunt and Pollet.

House Committee on Education

Senate Committee on Early Learning & K-12 Education

Background:

Student Emotional or Behavioral Distress Plans.

Legislation adopted in 2013 requires school districts to adopt a plan for the recognition, initial screening, and response to emotional or behavioral distress in students, including indicators of possible substance abuse, violence, and youth suicide. School districts are required to annually provide the plan to all district staff.

The plan must satisfy numerous minimum content requirements, including addressing:

• identification of training opportunities in recognition, screening, and referral that may be available for staff;

• how staff should respond to suspicions, concerns, or warning signs of emotional or behavioral distress in students;

• protocols and procedures for communication with parents; and

• how the district will provide support to students and staff after an incident of violence or youth suicide.

In adopting the plan, school districts may consider a model school district plan developed at the direction of the Legislature by the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction and the School Safety Center Advisory Committee.

Alleged Sexual Misconduct by a School Employee - Notification and Reporting Obligations.

School districts must, at the first opportunity but in all cases within 48 hours of receiving a report alleging sexual misconduct by a school employee, notify the parents of the student alleged to be the victim, target, or recipient of the misconduct. In complying with this notification requirement, districts must provide parents with information regarding their rights under Washington's Public Records Act to request the public records regarding school employee discipline. This information must also be provided by the district to all parents on an annual basis.

A school employee who has knowledge or reasonable cause to believe that a student has been a victim of physical abuse or sexual misconduct by another school employee is required to report the abuse or misconduct to the appropriate school administrator. If the administrator has reasonable cause to believe that the misconduct or abuse occurred, he or she must cause a report to be made to the proper law enforcement agency. During the process of making a reasonable cause determination, the administrator must contact all parties involved in the complaint.

School districts are required to provide employees training regarding their statutory reporting obligations related to physical abuse or sexual misconduct by school employees in their orientation training when hired and again every three years.

Summary:

Provisions governing the plan for the recognition, initial screening, and response to emotional or behavioral distress in students that school districts must adopt are modified. In addition to recognizing, screening, and responding to emotional or behavioral distress in students for possible substance abuse, violence, and youth suicide, the plan must also include provisions for indicators of possible sexual abuse.

The minimum content requirements that a plan must satisfy are modified to specify that the plans must address:

• protocols and procedures for communication with parents and guardians, including specific parental notification requirements for alleged sexual misconduct by a school employee;

• how the district will provide support to students and staff after allegations of sexual abuse;

• how staff should respond when allegations of sexual contact or abuse are made against a staff member, a volunteer, or a parent, guardian, or family member of the student, including how staff should interact with parents, law enforcement, and child protective services; and

• how the district will provide to certificated and classified staff training on the obligation to report physical abuse or sexual misconduct to the appropriate school administrator.

Votes on Final Passage: