Dear Colleagues:
As the United State Senate's Judiciary Committee holds confirmation hearings to determine whether or not they will select Brett Kavanaugh to become a member of the United States Supreme Court, recent developments have brought the issue of sexual misconduct and assault to the forefront of the hearings and the national conversation.
As an educator, I know that students within your district may be watching the debate and listening to elected officials and political pundits discussing sexual assault. It is imperative that we focus on reframing this national dialogue to ensure that we create a culture of open dialogue within our schools and communities about safe and healthy relationships, proper conduct, investigations, and reporting structures.
For this reason, I am urging you to lead conversations within your district in order to make it clear to your students and communities that, not only do we recognize that sexual assault is wrong, but equally, that we all have a role to play in ensuring that everyone in our community is happy and safe.
This may be an important time to review policies and procedures about conduct, reporting requirements, and standards of investigation. In this moment, we have the opportunity to empower our students and to bring our community closer together by providing the type of moral leadership that sadly is missing at the national level.
If your district is in need of support, feel free to contact my office.
Together, we will ensure that the next generation of leaders will be unafraid to ask for help if they need it and will have the support to make all of their dreams a reality.
Sincerely,
Mary Ann Dewan, Ph.D.
County Superintendent of Schools
Suggested Resources for Educators
Santa Clara County Office of Women's policy: https://www.sccgov.org/sites/owp/Pages/owp.aspx
YWCA Silicon Valley: http://ywca-sv.org/
One Love Foundation: https://www.joinonelove.org/
Planned Parenthood Mar Monte as an additional resource for talking about sexual assault, healthy relationships, consent, and trafficking. Their education team is knowledgeable and able to hold these conversations with youth and young adults.
School administrators can either contact Planned Parenthood Mar Monte at PPMMEducation@ppmarmonte.org or call Leah Carig, Regional Program Manager at 408-7953729. Website: https://www.plannedparenthood.org/planned-parenthood-mar-monte
