{"id":23596,"date":"2020-05-21T03:25:25","date_gmt":"2020-05-21T07:25:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=23596"},"modified":"2020-05-21T03:25:25","modified_gmt":"2020-05-21T07:25:25","slug":"schools-havent-thought-about-mandated-reporting-with-online-class","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2020\/05\/21\/schools-havent-thought-about-mandated-reporting-with-online-class\/","title":{"rendered":"Schools Haven\u2019t Thought about Mandated Reporting with Online Class"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"100%\" height=\"300\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" allow=\"autoplay\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?url=https%3A\/\/api.soundcloud.com\/tracks\/824962435&amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;auto_play=false&amp;hide_related=false&amp;show_comments=true&amp;show_user=true&amp;show_reposts=false&amp;show_teaser=true&amp;visual=true\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Schools Haven\u2019t Thought about Mandated Reporting with Online Class<\/strong><br \/>\n<span>by Stella Lorence<\/span><\/p>\n<p>SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA \u2013 Forced to rapidly transition to online learning, K-12 schools<br \/>\nhave not thought about the effects on mandated reporting of child abuse that may result from a<br \/>\nsustained lack of personal connection to educators.<\/p>\n<p>John Fong, the Director of Children and Family Services for San Mateo County, the county that<br \/>\ncontains Roosevelt Elementary, said he has seen a decrease in reporting across all types of abuse<br \/>\nand neglect that aligns with the implementation of shelter-in-place orders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat I can tell you is, from the beginning of March, we\u2019ve been tracking weekly data, so<br \/>\nweekly report counts coming into our county hotline, and week to week, since shelter in place,<br \/>\nwe\u2019re seeing anywhere from a 60 to 70 percent decrease in child abuse reporting to our hotline,\u201d<br \/>\nFong said.<\/p>\n<p>Most people in occupations that require regular contact with children are considered mandated<br \/>\nreporters, including teachers, instructional aides, members of the clergy, therapists and coaches,<br \/>\naccording to The Child Abuse and Neglect Reporting Act, or section 11166 of the California<br \/>\nPenal Code. People who fall into the mandated reporter category are required to make a report if<br \/>\nthey have \u201creasonable suspicion\u201d that a child is being abused or neglected as outlined by the<br \/>\ncode.<\/p>\n<p>School employees are required to take annual mandated reporter training, which includes<br \/>\ninstruction for identifying child abuse and neglect and the process of making a report. A<br \/>\nmandated reporter who fails to make a report of known or reasonably suspected child abuse or<br \/>\nneglect is guilty of a misdemeanor.<\/p>\n<p>Cathy Kassel is a first-grade teacher at Roosevelt Elementary School in Burlingame, California,<br \/>\nwhich is one of seven schools that make up the Burlingame School District. Kassel said she has<br \/>\nmade five mandated reports over the course of her 18-year teaching career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn my first ten years, I made one report and I actually had the child removed from his home,\u201d<br \/>\nKassel said. \u201cAnd it was for neglect and it took a lot of documentation, but he was removed<br \/>\nfrom his home.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Roosevelt transitioned to remote learning on March 13, when the San Mateo County Health<br \/>\nOfficer issued the School Operations Modification Order for all school districts in the county.<br \/>\nThe order was revised on March 26 to extend school closures through the end of the school year.<br \/>\nSchools and school districts were \u201cencouraged to implement at-home learning models, including<br \/>\nbut not limited to online learning if feasible,\u201d according to the order.<\/p>\n<p>Although in the Burlingame School District, most of the lesson content is distributed through<br \/>\npre-recorded lessons that students can complete at their own pace, teachers are regularly<br \/>\nchecking in with students via video conferencing.<\/p>\n<p>Kassel meets virtually with every student one-on-one at least once a week. She was not given<br \/>\nany special instructions by her principal or superintendent regarding mandated reporting during<br \/>\nonline learning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNothing has changed,\u201d Burlingame School District Superintendent Maggie MacIssac said.<br \/>\n\u201c[Teachers] can absolutely fulfill those same obligations.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kassel requests for her own safety that at least one parent is nearby for those digital meetings,<br \/>\nthough she suspects the presence of a parent may hinder reporting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen children have confided in me, it\u2019s because they trust me and because their classroom is a<br \/>\nsafe space for them,\u201d Kassel said. \u201cIf I see something about that child that\u2019s concerning me and I<br \/>\nask that child \u2018How did this happen. I noticed this, how did this happen?\u2019 then nine times out of<br \/>\nten the child will tell me. But Mom and Dad aren\u2019t there, nobody\u2019s there. It\u2019s just me and the<br \/>\nkid in a safe place.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Because a child is defined in the penal code as anyone under the age of 18, the majority of high<br \/>\nschool students are also covered by mandated reporting provisions.<\/p>\n<p>Kevin Skelly is the superintendent of the San Mateo Union High School District, which consists<br \/>\nof seven high schools and one adult school that shares a campus with one of the high schools.<br \/>\nHe said that high school staff did not receive any special instructions regarding mandated<br \/>\nreporting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat\u2019s not a question I\u2019ve been asked, to be honest,\u201d Skelly said.<\/p>\n<p>About two weeks ago, the San Mateo Department of Children and Family Services released a<br \/>\npublic service announcement targeting educators that was meant to raise awareness and provide<br \/>\nguidance for how teachers can be effective mandated reporters during online learning. After<br \/>\nreleasing the announcement, the department saw a bump in reporting, from a 60 or 70% decrease<br \/>\nto a 44% decrease.<\/p>\n<p>Both the Burlingame School District and the San Mateo Union High School District had<br \/>\nemployees from the district office doing in-person check ins to the homes of students who<br \/>\nteachers were not able to get into contact with once online learning was implemented.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll drop off stuff, we\u2019ll work with people,\u201d Skelly said.<\/p>\n<p>Students receiving check-ins from district staff were not necessarily students that were suspected<br \/>\nto be victims of abuse or neglect, and the bulk of the home visits were done in the first phase of<br \/>\nonline learning.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis system that we\u2019re doing is working for at least half of our students pretty well, but it\u2019s the<br \/>\n20% that even though we\u2019ve provided the access points to them, we\u2019re spending a lot more time<br \/>\njust connecting with kids than we are in creating curriculum,\u201d said Hillsdale High School<br \/>\nPrincipal Jeff Gilbert in a March 26 Special Board meeting. \u201cI think we had no idea how much<\/p>\n<p>time we would end up spending just reaching out, texting, emailing, calling, trying to connect<br \/>\nwith kids. Teachers are working much harder than I would\u2019ve anticipated just in that one-to-one,<br \/>\ntrying to find students and connect with them.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With a gap left by school officials, the state government is doing what it can to prevent abusive<br \/>\nsituations from worsening or going unnoticed during the pandemic. Child welfare hotline and<br \/>\nemergency response investigations are deemed essential government functions that are<br \/>\ncontinuing to operate under shelter-in-place orders.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is essential that we perform this function during this time, particularly when stress may be<br \/>\nheightened by health concerns, potential financial losses and increased caregiving<br \/>\nresponsibilities while children are not in school or participating in normal day-to-day activities,\u201d<br \/>\naccording to a state Department of Social Services letter to all county agencies.<\/p>\n<p>Agencies are continuing in-person contact for investigations into reports of abuse and neglect<br \/>\nand placement of children who have been removed from their homes, two of the most critical<br \/>\nfunctions, according to Joan Miller, deputy director of Family and Child Services in San<br \/>\nFrancisco County\u2019s Human Services Agency.<\/p>\n<p>Under the new guidelines for county agencies, families or children receiving monthly<br \/>\ncaseworker visits will now participate in the visits virtually through videoconferencing<br \/>\ntechnology such as Zoom or Facetime unless their caseworker deems an in-person visit<\/p>\n<p>necessary. As always, the emphasis for caseworkers is to help families stay together; children<br \/>\nare removed from the home only as a last resort.<\/p>\n<p>California Governor Gavin Newsom also announced $42 million to protect foster children and<br \/>\nfamilies impacted by COVID-19 on April 13. Specifically, $27 million will go towards helping<br \/>\nfamilies stay together; $7 million will support social workers; and $3 million will support Family<br \/>\nResource centers, according to a press release from the governor\u2019s office.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cEvery child deserves to grow up in a safe, stable and nurturing environment free from fear,<br \/>\nabuse and neglect,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cOur foster youth and the families who care for them need our<br \/>\nsupport to get through this difficult time. We\u2019re ramping up funding on initiatives that keep<br \/>\nfamilies together and support the social workers who provide critical services to help families<br \/>\nthrive.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The governor\u2019s office has also put out calls in English and Spanish for friends and neighbors to<br \/>\nkeep an eye out for children who may be in trouble and to submit reports, even if they are not<br \/>\nmandated reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Schools Haven\u2019t Thought about Mandated Reporting with Online Class by Stella Lorence SAN MATEO, CALIFORNIA \u2013 Forced to rapidly transition to online learning, K-12 schools have not thought about the effects on mandated reporting of child abuse that may result from a sustained lack of personal connection to educators. John Fong, the Director of Children [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17683,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1598,14],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17683"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23596"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23597,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23596\/revisions\/23597"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}