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Council Rock committee discusses updates to dating-violence policy, clarifies reporting and parallel investigations
Summary
Committee members reviewed edits to the district—s dating-violence policy to align with behavioral threat assessment procedures, permit parallel discrimination investigations, and connect to the district—s policy for students adjudicated for sexual assault; staff emphasized mandatory reporting to ChildLine and coordination with law enforcement.
Committee members reviewed substantive revisions to the district policy addressing dating violence, including steps for behavioral threat assessment and links to the district's existing policy on students adjudicated of sexual assault.
Ron Sprague, presenting, described the changes as aligning the policy with current practices for behavioral threat assessment and clarifying that "if there is a finding of dating violence, the principal should and must recommend the appropriate disciplinary action, as set forth in the code of conduct and where appropriate, needs to report the incident to law enforcement." Sprague said the behavioral threat assessment team is overseen by the district—s supervisor of security and safety.
The draft also clarifies that dating-violence allegations can run in parallel with discrimination investigations when appropriate, rather than forcing administrators to choose one investigative path. "You can run parallel investigations," Sprague said.
Board members questioned jurisdiction and off-campus incidents. Superintendent Andy Sanko and staff said the district frequently involves law enforcement and makes mandatory reports when allegations could rise to criminal conduct; they noted ChildLine and law enforcement act as investigatory agencies when child abuse is suspected. "We rely heavily on law enforcement anytime we think that there is a criminal act," Sanko said. He added that if incidents occur off campus they still may trigger reporting obligations and coordination with law enforcement, but the district's jurisdiction is narrower when incidents do not involve school property or school time.
No vote was taken; the committee discussed the draft language and the linkage to other district policies and state guidance. Members praised the linkage to the existing policy that governs responses when a student is adjudicated of sexual assault and urged clear procedures for principals on when to refer matters to law enforcement and ChildLine.
