Sexual assault and harassment on students have reached embarrassingly high rates for our nation’s school system. In a 2014 report by the CDC on school violence it listed more than 4,000 students who were sexually assaulted including violent rape while on school grounds. The AP Press found over 17,000 cases of sexual assault on students by other students and teachers from 2011 – 2015. The rising SUCCESSFUL lawsuits by parents suing school districts for failing to fulfill the fiduciary responsibilities of taking care of our children demonstrate that schools aren’t attempting to find solutions to this growing problem, rather, they are only attempting to hide the problem.
One of the reasons sexual misconduct has risen to a national crisis is the direct result of allowing schools to show explicit pornographic material in classrooms, which sexually charges students to engage in these abusive behaviors.
Mike Hill, a proponent of positive change has agreed to introduce legislation developed by Liberty Counsel when he is elected to the Florida’s State House later this year that directly addresses this issue.
Liberty Counsel sent the following fact sheet to help educate Florida’s parents so they can be part of protecting their children from this national crisis.
Liberty Counsel said…
It is time to hold schools and libraries to the same standards as everyone else.
Florida law established fines and jail time for adults giving “harmful,” (i.e., obscene or pornographic) materials to children. However, teachers, librarians, and others working in our educational systems can still provide these same materials to children without seeking parental permission, and parents have no recourse. Current law assumes that legally obscene material is suddenly not harmful if passed through a school or library, even though it is the exact same material these laws intended to prohibit being handed to children in other contexts. There is no “educational” need for legally obscene material.
The obscenity exemptions for schools and libraries facilitate grooming for sexual exploitation and abuse and give sexual predators a safe way to access children.
Providing sexually explicit materials in schools and libraries desensitizes children to sexual ideas, conversations, and conduct. This is a strong component of the grooming process used by sexual predators. Sexually explicit materials have been found in all aspects of school curriculum including literature, history, class parties, art, and special projects. It cannot be avoided by parents simply opting out of sex education classes. This leaves children even more susceptible to exploitation and abuse, from other minors, and from adults. We need to immediately repeal laws that facilitate sexual exploitation and abuse. The “harmful to minors” laws must be allowed to function as intended without protecting certain occupations.