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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2021 - 2022
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | June 1, 2021 02:13 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator Judith L. Schwank |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | It's on us! Teaching students to know and prevent dating violence and sexual assault. |
| In the near future, I will be introducing legislation that will require schools to teach 7-12 grade students to identify and prevent dating violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and stalking to help equip young people with these important skills. As way of background, middle and high school students are at the greatest risk of dating violence and sexual assault. According to the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), in PA, 418,000 victims of sexual violence were under the age of 18. NISVS concludes that sexual violence starts early, with one in three female victims experiencing rape between the ages of 11 and 17 and one in four male victims experiencing rape before the age of 10. The overwhelming majority of sexual assaults are committed by people known by victims. Many teens do not understand that they are a victim and often go without the care they need. Teenagers spend an extraordinary amount of time each day in school, remotely and in-person. This provides the opportunity for schools to have a more proactive role in preventing teen dating violence and sexual violence through education. Education to teens on dating violence and sexual violence may be extremely comprehensive in one school, but completely absent from another. Consistent policies and requirements on a school’s responsibility for ensuring education will ensure all schools are working to increase students’ awareness on dating and sexual violence. Sexual assault and dating abuse can disrupt a student’s ability to focus, and schools are responsible for maintaining a safe and healthy environment that fosters growth and learning. Without education and strategies in place to teach students on dating violence and sexual violence, the students who have experienced it will continue to suffer This bill will compliment Act 110 of 2020 which provided for expulsion guidelines if a student assaults another while on school grounds. This bill would help provide preventative education whereas Act 110 provides for action when incidents have occurred. The PA Department of Education has model materials available and can identify additional educational resources to assist schools in addition to resources available through statewide and local sexual assault and domestic violence coalitions, such as PCAR and PCADV. I hope that you will join me in supporting this important piece of legislation |
Introduced as SB785