Perrysburg schools create Student Bill of Rights, new reporting channels and draft anti‑grooming policy after wave of anonymous reports

Perrysburg School District leaders told the Board of Education on Feb. 18 that they have created a Student Bill of Rights, opened new anonymous reporting channels and drafted a staff conduct/anti‑grooming policy after receiving 22 reports through a new email and voicemail tipline.

The Student Bill of Rights and reporting changes are meant to make it clearer how students and community members can report safety concerns, administrators said. The district also will run semesterly reviews of reports with school resource officers and the police chief and is developing a centralized administrative file system to preserve historic reports.

The move follows community concern that past allegations were mishandled or not tracked. Justin Fultz, director of student services and well‑being, said the district has assigned unique IDs to incoming reports, records the source and the nature of each complaint, and tracks actions, status and outcomes. Doctor Justin Fultz said 22 reports arrived after the tipline went live; 16 were previously unreported and 10 cited allegations involving one staff member; the reported incidents ranged in date from 2001 to 2018. Staff reported that one of the reports led the district to notify law enforcement.

Superintendent Tom Hosler said the administration has focused on three priorities: strengthening reporting pathways so students know how to report; training staff and administrators with scenario‑based professional development; and improving documentation and law‑enforcement follow up. "Words are 1 thing, but actions are much louder," he said, describing changes already underway.

Administrators presented a draft Student Bill of Rights that clarifies students’ right to a safe learning environment, to be heard, to confidential reporting and to protection from retaliation. Examples of incidents that the document urges people to report include inappropriate touching, excessive private communications, gifts, one‑on‑one meetings outside school and other boundary crossings.

The district added an email address and an extension voicemail box for report intake; board documents note that the Safer Ohio tip line and child protective services remain alternative anonymous channels. Doctor Fultz said that, since mid‑January, the district received 22 reports via the new channels, five of which were not staff‑misconduct reports. He said 16 reports were previously unreported and one report concerning the staff member later resulted in a district referral to law enforcement.

Assistant Superintendent Brooke Price described the district’s work with the Perrysburg Police Division and the SROs to strengthen the flow of information. Price said open police investigations often require verbal communication until a case is closed; the district is standardizing how those verbal reports are captured and logged so administrators can later retrieve a redacted case file and, where appropriate, add a summary to a student threat‑assessment tool called Caseworks.

Price said the district will keep a central, access‑controlled administrative drive containing non‑sensitive summaries and documentation so successors can find prior notes even if building administrators change.

Board members and staff emphasized training and culture change. Hosler and board members said the district will present the draft anti‑grooming policy and the Student Bill of Rights to student advisory groups for feedback before a first policy reading to the board.

Several board members praised the steps taken so far and noted the need for continued outreach and clear communication to families. Hosler said the administration will return to the board with periodic summary reports on the volume and disposition of reports and the results of the semesterly reviews with law enforcement.