Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Child Protection topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Jamie Mitchell urges 'zero tolerance' at Pendleton County Schools meeting, clarifies town signs
Summary
At a Pendleton County Schools board meeting, public commenter Jamie Mitchell said she and her children were victims of past sexual abuse, urged zero tolerance for predators and clarified that town signs about abuse are separate from school reporting; the board then moved on to personnel business.
Jamie Mitchell used the board's public-comment slot to call for a "zero tolerance" approach to child sexual abuse and to clarify the meaning of community signs residents have placed around town.
"The history of this town has proven that they have hidden child sexual abuse in the past and that's been proven in a court of law," Jamie Mitchell told the Pendleton County Schools board during public comment. She said she and her children were victims and that she "reported my own father." Mitchell said the signs in town are intended to remind residents not to tolerate abuse and are not the same thing as school-level reporting.
Mitchell said her earlier comments had been conflated with discussion about the signs and that the two matters "have absolutely nothing to do with the other," though she acknowledged they overlap in the public's concerns. She said some residents reacted to the signs as if they were shameful; she called that response "shameful" and said the signs help people feel empowered to report abuse.
Board members did not engage in back-and-forth during the public comment period; the chair closed public comment after Mitchell finished and the meeting proceeded to personnel items.
The board's next regular meeting was announced for Tuesday, June 16 at 5:30 p.m.
