Peer Sexual Harassment in two Southeastern Counties in Georgia Public Schools

Transcription

1 Peer Sexual Harassment in two Southeastern Counties in Georgia Public Schools Shannon McDowell, Garth Petrie, and Patricia Lindauer The incidents of peer sexual harassment in American public schools are becoming an ever increasing problem across the United States. Almost daily an incident of sexual harassment of students is reported by the media. Many times the perpetrators of these crimes are very young, and their acts increasingly more offensive or violent. This increase in peer sexual harassment has forced State Boards of Education and State Departments of Education to review their policies on sexual harassment. The Georgia Department of Education's policy on sexual harassment essentially states that all forms of sexual harassment is prohibited. A recent review of literature shows that most states are being forced to review and change their guidelines concerning sexual harassment due to a change in public opinion, as well as recent legal rulings favoring victims of sexual harassment. To begin a discussion about sexual harassment in schools, one must have an understanding of sexual harassment terms and legal policies. First and foremost, not all sexual conduct is sexual harassment. The sexual conduct must be unwelcome. The conduct is unwelcome if the one being harassed does not request or invite the conduct, or if he/she views the conduct as offensive or undesirable. It must be noted that a student's past willingness to participate in conduct which could be characterized as sexual harassment does not prevent him/her from indicating that the same conduct is unwelcome on a later date (OCR & Studentto-Student Sexual Harassment, 1998). This is an extremely important point which must not be overlooked by administrators, who must treat each incident of sexual harassment individually. Do administrators and teachers recognize cases of student peer sexual harassment? This study investigated the number of male and female students who reported incidents of peer sexual harassment, and the gender and manner in which the teachers report the offenses. Types of Sexual Harassment The two types of sexual harassment are quid pro quo and hostile environment. Quid pro quo sexual harassment in peer situations most commonly occurs when one student causes another student to believe that he/she must submit to unwelcome sexual conduct in order to participate in a school program or activity. An example of this is a student

2 threatening to keep another student from participating in a club or organization unless the student agrees to date or have sex with the student in the position of authority (Flynn, 1997). The other type of sexual harassment is hostile environment. Most cases of peer sexual harassment deal with hostile environment. Hostile environment is not always as easily defined as quid pro quo harassment. It occurs when unwelcome sexually harassing conduct is so severe, persistent, or pervasive that it affects the student's ability to participate in or benefit from an educational program or activity, or creates an intimidating, threatening or abusive educational environment (Flynn, 1997). Effects of Peer Sexual Harassment According to the Office of Civil Rights (OCR), sexual harassment is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by federal law known as Title IX (Chmeielewski, 1997). They have declared that sexual harassment is illegal, and that behaviors with the following characteristics may be determined to be forms of peer sexual harassment: kissing, sexual intercourse, fondling, sexual advances, indecent exposure, displaying sexually suggestive attitudes, and cornering or blocking of normal movements, expressing sexual meaning through touching or verbally commenting about a fellow student's body or clothes, leering, propositions, and flirting in a sexual manner, including repeated requests for dates which include explicit sexual references, threats, including the use of verbal abuse, epithets, spreading sexual rumors; or making sexual slurs, including sexually derogatory comments, descriptions, innuendoes and taunts, sexually offensive jokes, including pictures, stories, drawings and gestures (p. 2425). These types of behaviors may be damaging and traumatic for young children. Such an experience may cause a victim to feel ashamed, confused and helpless (Bass & Davis, 1994). These types of abuse usually occur in the victim's home, where he/she should feel safe. Schools, typically considered safe places, have now become an another arena where children can no longer feel safe. It is the responsibility of the administrators and teachers to understand the types of sexual harassment and the proper methods in which to report such offenses.

3 Paludi and Barickman (1998) list a variety of experiences children go through as the result of being sexual harassed. First, most students admit embarrassment from the experience. Second, a feeling of self consci6usness is experienced. Third, students who were sexually harassed have a feeling of being less secure of themselves and/or less confident. Fourth, feeling afraid or scared is often reported by the cictims of sexual harassment. Fifth, students reported doubting if they could ever have a romantic relationship after being sexually harassed. Sixth, victims often become confused about who they are. Finally, victims of peer sexual harassment expressed feelings of being less popular that their peers. Victims of peer sexual harassment often do not tell anyone about their abuse. Paludi and Barickman (1998) suggest that the main confidants of sexually harassed students are other students. Fear of retaliation is noted as one of the reasons victims do not tell of their abuse. In a 1994 study by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), fewer than one in ten students who were sexually harassed by peers told someone else. Litigation Concerning sexual Harassment Peer sexual harassment came into the national spotlight when a 6 year old, North Carolina first grade student, was suspended from school for one day for kissing his classmate on the cheek. Following this precedent, a second grade student in New York was suspended for five days for allegedly kissing a classmate and tearing a button from her skirt. When the facts about this case came to light, the child said he pulled the button off of the skirt because of the book Corduroy, a book about a bear with a button missing from his overalls (Phillips, 1996). The overreaction of these school administrators has done little to help the fight of realistic peer exual harassment cases. Peer sexual harassment is too serious a subjectto be concerned with trifling incidents involving students that are too innocent to realize what sex is, much less the concept of sexual harassment. True peer sexual harassment is documented by stories of countless young girls and boys who face abuse at the hands of their peers, sometimes on a daily basis. The cases of peer sexual harassment have been continually increasing, with more cases being won by the plaintiffs. In 1991 the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in Ellison v. Brady, found that unlawful sexual harassment may occur even when the harasser does not realize his/her conduct is responsible for a hostile environment (Hassenpflug, 1996). Although not

4 all cases are school specific, administrators and teachers need to be aware that they are held to the same standards as all public employees. And, as proved by the case of Doe v. Pealum (1993), individuals of the same sex may cause a hostile environment. Peer sexual harassment is ot just a problem for secondary school administrators and teachers. Denision (1998) cited these examples of peer sexual harassment litigation brought against elementary students. A third grade student who was subjected to repeated harassment was awarded $5000 by her school district when she proved she was a victim of sexual harassment by other elementary students. A sixth grader, subjected to foul language, obscene gestures, and threats against her life, won an award for $500,000 for sexual harassment by a classmate. The ground breaking case of Franklin v. Gwinnett (199 1) set the precedent for students who are victims of sexual harassment, not just peer sexual harassment, to collect monetary rewards for damages, under Title IX of the Educational Amendments of In case the student, Franklin, was subjected to continual sexual harassment by Hill, a coach and teacher at her school. The complaint also alleged that teachers and administrators were aware of Hills harassment and investigated the situation, but did not take any action to stop it. They also discouraged Franklin from pressing charges against Hill. When I-Ell resigned so that all matters pending against him would be dropped, the school closed its investigation. After the Supreme Court ruled that a damages remedy should be available for an action brought to enforce Title IX, Franklin proceeded with the law suit. The school system settled out of court for an undisclosed amount (LaMorte, 1996). The Eleventh Circuit, in Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, held that Title IX imposes liability on a school district for peer sexual harassment (Alexander & Alexander, 1998). In this case Mrs. Davis filed a complaint against the Monroe County Board of Education alleging violations of the Title IX of the Education Amendments of Mrs. Davis alleged a pattern of sexual harassment and abuse against her daughter while she ws attending Hubbard Elementary School. The harassment complaint alleged repeated incidents of vulgar sexual language and inappropriate touching over a period of six months. Although the student and her mother complained to teachers and administrators after each incident, they refused to take any action to protect the child. Throughout the course of the harassment, the Monroe County Board of Education had no policy prohibiting the sexual harassment of students in its schools, and had failed to provide any training to its employees on how to respond to

5 incidents of sexual harassment by students. The Eleventh Circuit Court ruled in favor of Mrs. Davis. She was found to be entitled to damages from the School Board under Title IX Cases similar to Davis have been heard in the Second Circuit (New York). In Bmeman v. South Kortright, the Second Circuit found that the school district was found to have violated the students Title IX rights when she was not protected against hostile environment peer sexual harassment. According to this ruling, a successful Title IX sexual hostile environment claim by a student would have to establish "that the school and or school board received actual notice of the sexual harassing conduct and failed to take the action to remedy it", Jane Doe, et al. v. Londonberry School District is another case comparable to Davis. Doe was heard in New Hampshire with similar findings to Davis, the school district was found liable for the sexual harassment of a student (Denison, 1998). The days of saying "boys will be boys" or "that's just how normal kids act" are over in this present litigious society. School officials cannot say they have no control over students making sexual harassing statements, or acting out in a, harassing manner. According to one study by the American Association of University Women, in which 1600 students in grades 812 were polled found that 85 percent of girls and 76 percent of boys felt they were the target of sexual harassment (Weiss, 1994). Other surveys, including one by Seventeen m azine, showed similar results. These are staggering statistics. If even one quarter of the students who felt they were harassed were to file suit, that would amount to over 300 cases against school districts. Statistics also show that regardless of sex, African Americans are the most likely target of sexual harassment (Sabir, 1995). Methodology Participants and Setting Twenty-five building level adn-finistrators and twenty teachers in one southeastern Georgia county were surveyed, and five building level administrators and ten teachers in a second southeastern Georgia county were administered a researcher designed a 10 question Likert type questionnaire. The teachers in both counties were chosen by systematic sampling, using the district's personnel directories. Research Design This survey was an attempt to gather data concerning the building level administrators' and teachers' perceptions concerning student peer sexual harassment. A representative sample of the teacher population was used for this study.

6 Participants in this sample included elementary school, middle school, and high school teachers; as well as a representation of the population of building level administrators from all grade levels. Data Collection Each building level administrator received a questionnaires and cover letter for themselves and those to be distributed to the participating teachers. They were asked to return the surveys through either intradistrict mail or in the stamped, self addressed envelope through the US mail. Thirty questionnaires were given to teachers and thirty questionnaires were given to building level administrators. Fifty-five surveys were returned., Twenty-eight teacher surveys were returned at a 93% rate. Twenty-seven building level administrator surveys were returned at a 90% rate. Findings A survey instrument was the vehicle used to answer the research questions concerning peer sexual harassment. Data were collected from thirty different elementary, middle, and high school teachers; and thirty different elementary, middle, and high school administrators. The research questions were: 1. Are there more cases of student peer sexual harassment reported by female students than male students? 2. Are there more cases of student peer sexual harassment reported by female teachers than male teachers? 3. Do female teachers report student peer sexual harassment complaints differently than male teachers? Results The survey instrument scores for the teachers and administrators, with scores of I - 4 (strongly agree - 1, agree - 2, disagree - 3, strongly disagree - 4), were taken from the survey instruments returned to the researcher. A t-test using the.05 alpha level was used to determine the statistical difference in the reporting of peer sexual harassment between female and male teachers (t = 8.959). The t-test results indicated the difference in the two groups, female and male, was very significant (see Table 1). for comparison of male and female (building level administrators And teachers) responses indieme there is a significant difference in the number of reports of student peer sexual harassment. Participants in the survey, both building level administrators and teachers, were asked to specify the number of peer

7 sexual harassment cases reported by male and female students. The survey given to participants, both building,level administrators and teachers, requested each respondent specify gender. Table I expresses the gender of respondents and the percentage reporting student peer sexual harassment cases. Conclusions and Implications appears to exist in our schools a definitive difference between the number of male and female students who report peer sexual harassment as well as a differences in the number of male teachers and administrators and female teachers and administrators who report peer sexual harassment. The knowledge base of teachers and administrators in recognizing cases of student peer sexual harassment may call for additional professional development in this area. Based on the findings in this study, the overwhelming majority of students who report peer sexual harassment are female. The study also found that male teachers and administrators are far less likely to report peer sexual harassment than their female counterparts. The results of this study have implications not just for teachers and administrators, but for students as well. Since male teachers seem less inclined to report cases of peer sexual harassment, more staff development for male teachers may be called for. Since male students seem less inclined to report cases of peer sexual harassment, a curriculum to address peer sexual harassment for male students seems to be needed. In order to provide validation of these findings, the following should be further researched: 1. More research needs to be completed at the state level to see if these results from two southeastern Georgia counties concerning the amount of male students reporting peer sexual harassment are consistent with the rest of the state. 2. More research needs to be completed at the state level to see if these results from two southeastern Georgia counties concerning the amount of male teachers reporting peer sexual harassment are consistent with the rest of the state. Although these findings are from a small population of teachers and administrators, it may suggest some important areas in which teachers, administrators and staff development coordinators may need to make decisions. Not only does support need to be provided for teachers and administrators, but for students o ften rinadvertent action by a school leader

8 sends not only incorrect, but inappropriate, information to students. References Alexander, K. & Alexander, M.D. (1998). American Public School Law: Fourth Edition. Belmont, CA:West/Wadsworth. Bass, E. and L. Davis (1994). The courage to heal: A guide for women survivorsof child sexual abuse. Third edition. New York, NY: Harper Collins. Chmeielewski, C. (1997). Sexual harassment meet Title IX NEA Today, 16, 2. Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, 42 F.2nd 9131 (1 Ith Cir. 1996). Denison, D. (1998). Sexual harassment: It's not just for grownups agymore. [Online] Available: Flynn, A. (1997). Sexual harassment in schools. Education Digest Franklin v Gwinnett CouM Schools 503 U.S. 60 (11 th Cir ). Hassenpflug,A. (1996). When a picture maybe worth a thousand words. English Journal. 85, LaMorte, M. (1996). School Law: Cases and Concept. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon. OCR & Student-to-Student Sexual Harassment - Part 1. (1996, November). Schoolaw AdvanceSheet for Administrators OCR & Student-to-Student Sexual Harassment - Part 11. (1996, December). Schoolaw AdvanceSheet for Administrators Paludi, M.A., & Barickman, R.B. (1998). Sexual harassment, work, and education: A resource manual for prevention 2nd Edition. New York: State University Press. Phillips, A. (1996). Kissing and correctness. Maclean's. 109, 49. Sabir, N. (1995). Hostilities in the hallways. Black Enterprise. 26, 28. Weiss, S. (1994). Flirting or Hurting? NEA Today. 12, 4-5.

9 Table I Responses to Surygy Questions Gender % SD M t Cases of student peer sexual harassment reported by student's gender. Teachers female 80.9 male 19.1 Administrators female 85.5 male 14.5 Cases of student peer sexual harassment reported by gender of teachers and administrators Teachers female 60.7 male 39.3 Administrators female 66.6 male 33.4 Difference in reporting of student peer sexual harassment by female and male teachers p = >.05 df = 53