Students Press SFUSD, City for Faster Action on School Sexual and Gender‑Based Violence

Hundreds of students, parents and service providers turned out Oct. 27 as the Board's Public Safety committee devoted its special order to rising reports of sexual and gender‑based violence in San Francisco Unified schools. Student delegates described a year of protests and walkouts and called for quicker, more transparent investigations, mandatory consent education starting in elementary grades, and immediate protections for survivors.

"Students shouldn't have to pick between an education or feeling safe at school," student delegate Cal Kenosha said, listing demands that included accessible Title IX information (physical posters and digital links), ready resource lists for survivors, curriculum audits to ensure early consent education, and mandatory training and waivers for student athletes and coaches.

SFUSD officials acknowledged the students' leadership and outlined recent policy steps. The district said it revised its bullying/harassment policy on Oct. 11 and has created a Title IX student advisory group to co‑design future policy changes. Kysara Williams, executive director of SFUSD's Office of Equity and Employee Relations, described site‑level Title IX officers, routine mandated‑reporting training for staff, and the constraints imposed by the current federal Title IX procedural rules that require extended timelines for formal investigations.

City and county agencies and community groups offered resources and prevention models. The Department of Children, Youth and Families and the Department of Public Health pledged collaborations to expand wellness‑center capacity and to develop consent/trauma‑informed curricula. DPH described CASARC (the Child Adolescent Support Advocacy Resource Center) as a comprehensive clinical and forensic resource located at San Francisco General Hospital that can provide individual and family therapy, medication, case management and multidisciplinary forensic support.

Project Survive and the Expect Respect collaborative — City College and community providers that run peer‑led healthy‑relationships curricula — described a two‑day, skills‑based lesson taught in 9th‑grade health classes and a dual‑enrollment pipeline to train paid peer educators. Community partners and students urged that prevention be scaled and integrated with school wellness centers and that student leaders be resourced to help shape policy and outreach.

Public comment was dominated by students and survivor advocates who said Title IX investigations can take months and that survivors often find themselves in classrooms with accused students during prolonged investigations. Speakers called for: immediate separation of accused students from survivors when allegations surface; faster, transparent investigation timelines; on‑site trauma‑informed counselors specializing in sexual violence; and a city‑level Safer Schools task force with youth representation.

Committee Action: Supervisor Myrna Melgar asked the committee to continue the item to the call of the chair so the work can continue with student leadership and interagency follow‑up; the motion passed on a 3–0 voice vote.

Why it matters: Students said administrative processes and Title IX limits leave survivors feeling unsafe and unheard. Officials described a suite of services and an active student advisory process, but many demands — immediate separation policies, mandatory athletic waivers and early‑grade consent education — were still pending implementation.