Sexual misconduct against K-12 students: teachers' perceptions of incidents by school

Restricted until 05 Feb. 2010.The purpose of this study was to investigate, analyze, and describe teachers' perceptions of the occurrence of sexual misconduct in public elementary, middle and high school settings. The study explored and assessed teachers' beliefs and perceptions of sexual misconduct to ascertain why it is prevalent among school workers from the perspective of the bystander. Ultimately, the purpose of this study was to examine whether programs, policies and training offered through school district employers are useful tools to avert school workers from demonstrating this type of inappropriate behavior.; The study described how teachers from an urban, unified school district perceived sexual misconduct involving children by school workers. The purpose of the findings from this study is to contribute knowledge that will help others to enhance their understanding of the nature of the problem. Data collected from the district consisted of document reviews, completed teacher surveys, and oral interviews with school administrators. I have carefully reviewed, analyzed and interpreted this data to provide a deeper insight.; An initial analysis indicated that the school met the basic requirements of having policy and training in place. District policy language on sexual harassment provides stated consequences for violators but does not accurately address today's issues concerning educator misconduct. Thus, despite the presence of a program addressing sexual misconduct, indicators of this research revealed that more needs to be done to ensure that all employees within the district are aware of their role in this battle. With continued focus and support, implementation of new sexual misconduct training strategies and further policy development, the district may be better able to mitigate sexual misconduct or prevent it from occurring altogether.; The results of this study provide a resource for anyone wanting to improve programs, policies, and training in order to reduce the frequency of sexual misconduct by school workers using identified practices. Additional studies in this area are recommended in order to fully understand educator sexual misconduct, and the continued development of policies designed to stop this phenomenon is recommended