3.5 Reporting Abuse and Neglect of Students

List of 4 items.

• Definitions

  For the purpose of this policy, the following working definitions are used:
  
  

  Abuse: means sexual, physical, or emotional abuse.
  
  

  Emotional Abuse: a pattern of behaviour that attacks a child’s emotional development and sense of self-worth.

  It includes excessive, aggressive or unreasonable demands that place expectations on a child beyond their capacity. Emotional abuse includes constantly criticizing, teasing, belittling, insulting, rejecting, ignoring or isolating the child. It may also include exposure to domestic violence.
  
  

  Employee: an employee of the School.
  
  

  Neglect: when a caregiver fails to provide basic needs such as adequate food, sleep, safety, education, clothing or medical treatment. It also includes leaving a child alone or failing to provide adequate supervision. If the caregiver is unable to provide the child with basic needs due to financial inability, it is not considered neglect, unless relief has been offered and refused.
  
  

  Physical Abuse: any deliberate physical force or action, by a parent or caregiver, which results, or could result, in injury to a child. It can include bruising, cuts, punching, slapping, beating, shaking, burning, biting or throwing a child. Using belts, sticks or other objects to punish a child can cause serious harm and is also considered abuse.
  
  

  Sexual Abuse: when a child is used for the sexual gratification of an adult or an older child. The child may cooperate because they want to please the adult or out of fear. It includes sexual intercourse, exposing a child’s private areas, indecent phone calls, fondling for sexual purposes, watching a child undress for sexual pleasure, and allowing/forcing a child to look at or perform in pornographic pictures or videos, or engage in prostitution.

• Principles

  1. Students attending the School are entitled to a learning environment free from violence and harassment, including threats and/or bullying and inappropriate sexual behaviour by other students, and no student will experience corporal punishment, physical mistreatment, sexual, emotional, physical, or verbal abuse by staff or other employees of the School.
  2. The School will educate all of its students about their right to live without fear of physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect, and will support disclosure of such abuse.
  3. The School will establish a series of age-appropriate programs to educate all of its students about the issues of abuse and neglect.
  4. The School will educate all its employees, volunteers and parents about the issues of abuse and neglect, and their duty to maintain safe and abuse-free learning environments.
  5. The School is committed to addressing issues and suspicions of harassment, physical, sexual, and emotional abuse and neglect in a manner that is culturally appropriate to all communities in Ontario. While The School respects the diversity of its school communities, child abuse prevention and reporting practices must be consistent with Canadian law.
  6. The School will ensure its employees collaborate and cooperate with any investigation by a children’s aid society or the police relating to a suspicion of child abuse or neglect.
  7. The School will hold all employees and volunteers accountable for the following:

  • • The School employees and volunteers working directly with a student of any age in their professional capacity will not enter into a sexual relationship with that student during the course of the professional relationship or for a period of one year thereafter; and
    • In the case of students and former students under the age of 18, any such relationship, in addition to being a serious breach of school policy, is also a criminal offence of sexual exploitation or sexual assault.

  8. The School will ensure that all prospective employees are screened for records of criminal convictions for sexual offences and offences involving children.
  9. The School will ensure that its physical spaces are regularly reviewed to address significant risks of abuse or neglect.
  10. The School will respect the dignity and privacy of its students.

• Protection from Reprisal

  A reprisal is defined as any act of retaliation, whether direct or indirect. This Policy prohibits reprisals against individuals who, acting in good faith, report incidents of abuse or neglect or act as witnesses in relation to such reports and their investigation. The School will take all reasonable and practical measures to prevent such reprisals or threats thereof, and any such act or threat of reprisal may result in disciplinary action being taken by the School, up to and including dismissal for cause.
  
  

  Related links (these documents can be found in the Appendix of this Handbook and in the Green Room)

  • Protocol for Reporting & Investigating Abuse & Neglect
  • Protocol for Sexual Assault Sexual Abuse
  • Possible Indicators of Child Abuse
  • Prevention of False Accusations of Abuse Towards Employees

• Protection of Employees from False Accusation of Abuse

  Employees have a right to due process in the handling and examination of allegations of abuse. If allegations are determined to be unfounded, no record of the allegation will be kept in the employee’s personnel file. However, a record of the incident will be kept in a separate incident file, maintained in strict confidence, in a secure location in accordance with appropriate administration procedures.

  The School recognizes that employees who have been falsely accused of abuse may need support, and the School will endeavour to assist the employee, wherever possible. Possible forms of support may include:

  • modified workload expectations to relieve stress;
  • time off; and/or
  • personal, professional, and/or family counselling.