Kaine bill proposes sexual assault prevention education in secondary schools

The former Democratic governor’s bill would authorize federal grant money for secondary schools to help administrators and staff learn how to develop age-appropriate and evidence-based curricula on safe relationships.

Ideally, conversations about these issues would begin at home, said Rebecca Weybright, executive director of the Sexual Assault Resource Agency in Charlottesville.

“But there’s no guarantee of that,” Weybright said. “We work regularly with young people in middle school and high school and have seen changes in their willingness to intervene in potentially harmful situations.”

Students will be exposed to these issues, either through media, family, friends or their own personal experiences, she said.

“Kids need to learn how to talk about these things before they need to talk about them,” Weybright said.

The legislative push comes at a time of heightened attention on sexual assault following Rolling Stone’s discredited account of a gang rape at the University of Virginia. Published Nov. 19, the 9,000-word story sent state lawmakers scrambling for quick solutions to complex problems already under review by a task force Gov. Terry McAuliffe convened in August.

Fixes begin with early intervention, Kaine concluded after a December meeting with members of One Less at UVa, a sexual assault prevention group.

He said he wants students to be equipped with the tools they need to stay safe before they hit the 16-to-24 age range flagged by the Department of Justice as the time when young women experience the highest rates of intimate partner violence.

“Education can be a key tool to increase public safety by raising awareness and helping to prevent sexual assault and domestic violence, but many students are leaving high school without learning about these crimes that disproportionately impact young people,” Kaine stated.

Members of One Less who met with Kaine said they arrived at the university with no formal education on these issues.

Discussion of personal safety topics — including dating and domestic violence and sexual assault prevention – is required under Virginia’s Board of Education-approved guidelines and standards, a state education department spokeswoman said, but there is no corresponding federal requirement.

One Less President Ashley Brown did not respond to interview requests Monday, but in a statement the group said it was impressed with the proposal, “and grateful that [Kaine] crafted this thoughtful response to our concerns.”

The measure also received an endorsement from the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance, according to a release. An agency spokeswoman did not respond to an interview request.

Members of McAuliffe’s Task Force on Combating College Sexual Violence are exploring whether Virginia is doing enough to prepare students for the issues they may face later.

“The group is considering a number of measures, including whether the ‘one [lesson] and done’ education model is sufficient or whether earlier and more frequent education is advisable,” said Michael Kelly, a spokesman for task force leader and state Attorney General Mark Herring.

Justice Department estimates place the number of people raped or sexually assaulted annually in America at 290,000, according to Kaine’s release, but advocates say the actual numbers are likely much higher.

At UVa, the number of sexual assault complaints filed in the immediate aftermath of the Rolling Stone story increased more than fourfold over the preceding months, according to numbers provided in response to a Freedom of Information Act request.

A total of 51 complaints were lodged with the university from Aug. 28 to Dec. 11, according to data compiled for the Board of Visitors and released to The Daily Progress.

More than half those complaints were filed over 23 days following the online publication of the Rolling Stone story. In the 82 days starting Aug. 28 and leading up to the story, 20 complaints were filed, a rate of one every four days. These complaints were made to the Office of the Dean of Students, UVa’s primary recipient of information about student sexual assault.

University officials said the school received 95 additional accounts referencing sexual assault via email after the story ran.

Of those, 28 were related to incidents that were reported to have occurred within the past six years and 67 were related to incidents that were reported to have occurred more than six years ago, with some dating more than 40 years ago, UVa spokesman McGregor McCance said.

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