Child Abuse
Student Reporting of Alleged Sexually Inappropriate Behavior
(a) Any student (or parent or friend of a student) who has been the victim of an act of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct by a teacher, administrator or other school system employee is urged to make an oral report of the act to any teacher, counselor or administrator at his/her school.
(b) Any teacher, counselor or administrator receiving a report of sexual abuse or sexual misconduct of a student by a teacher, administrator or other employee shall make an oral report of the incident immediately by telephone or otherwise to the Superintendent, School Director, or School Director’s designee and shall submit a written report of the incident to the Superintendent, Director, or School Director’s designee within 24 hours. If the Superintendent is the person accused of the sexual abuse or sexual misconduct, the oral and written reports should be made to the Board Chair or the Chair’s designee.
(c) Any Superintendent, School Director, or School Director’s designee receiving a report of sexual abuse as defined in O.C.G.A. 19-7-5 shall make an oral report immediately, but in no case later than 24 hours from the time there is reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused. The report should be made by telephone and followed by a written report in writing, if requested, to a child welfare agency providing protective services, as designated by the Department of Human Resources, or, in the absence of such agency, to an appropriate police authority or district attorney.
Reports of acts of sexual misconduct against a student by a teacher, administrator or other employee not covered by O.C.G.A. 19-7-5 or 20-2-1184 shall be investigated immediately by school or system personnel. If the investigation of the allegation of sexual misconduct indicates a reasonable cause to believe that the report of sexual misconduct is valid, the Superintendent, School Director, or School Director’s designee shall make an immediate written report to the Board Chair and the Professional Standards Commission Ethics Division.
For the purposes of this policy, “sexual abuse” means a person’s employing, using, persuading, inducing, enticing, or coercing any minor who is not that person’s spouse to engage in any sexual act as defined in OCGA §19-7-5.