Giving Compass' Take:

· Recent allegations against Brett Kavanaugh have spawned concern in the classroom regarding how to better educate youths about sexual harassment. Here, EdSurge explains how schools can be leaders in the conversation on sexual harassment and prevention.

· What is the best way to educate youths about sexual harassment? How does sexual harassment and assault impact mental health? 

· Read about a student who used social media to stop sexual harassment.

For those of us who work with adolescents, the Brett Kavanaugh accusations require self-reflection: How different are our schools from what we now know about prep-school culture in the 1980s? How do we lead boys to be better?

Last year, the #MeToo movement forced institutions across the country to reckon with sexual harassment. This included the school where I was principal. In addition to reading, writing, and algebra, we had to figure out how to guide adolescent sexuality and draw the line between normal misbehavior and cause for outrage. Not because we had any more issues with this than anywhere else—but because these situations have always been there, and now we had not just a mandate but a national conversation to help us address it.

The first step was to take a strong, public stand against sexual harassment. In our advisory classes—extended homerooms focused on social-emotional learning and community-building— we taught age-appropriate lessons about stopping harassment starting in sixth grade. Yes, sixth grade: At this age, there is already a lot of touching, comments about looks, and dating, and students need to be clear about the importance of consent. I also spoke at every grade’s community meeting—usually a time for celebrations, and usually led by grade-level leaders, not by me—to underline how seriously the school took this issue.

I did so, in part, to encourage students to speak up and come forward if they experienced harassment. They did, but often not through official channels such as the assistant principal or counselor. Rather, they told whatever adult at school they trusted most—a sign of how important such relationships are at schools. Sometimes, they told a friend who told an adult.

Read the full article about sexual harassment by Simon Rodberg at EdSurge.