Wonderfully written, comprehensive, and helpful to parents, educators, and students. This book will make a great contribution to educational practice' - Carol Shakeshaft, Professor, Foundations, Leadership and Policy Studies , Hofstra University This book is intended to help educators, especially school and district administrators, to identify, understand, evaluate, react, and ultimately prevent sexual abuse in K-12 schools. The book focuses on two pronged challenges. The first is on how to spot exploitation, specifically on what to look for in recognizing early warning signs. The other is on how to stop exploitation; the action steps schools can take to prevent sexual exploitation, to intervene and get help for abused children, and to respond promptly and appropriately if it occurs. Other topics that are addressed include standards of care for a safe school, definitions of child molestation and sexual abuse, legal issues, prevention and response to sexual abuse, protecting students and teachers, harassment and abuse policy and response plan.

The state of educational leadership, the preparedness and efficacy of today's school leaders, and the strengths and weaknesses of leadership preparation programs are all topics under continual scrutiny in both practice and research. What happens when schools and districts work together to bring out the best in school leaders and then harness those elements in "best practice" in both practice and research? Experts in school-university partnerships for leadership development, the authors seek to build a bridge between practice and theory by: illustrating what effective leadership looks like, how to cultivate it and sustain it, and how to center today's leadership preparation curriculum on effective leadership so that a higher percentage of future school leaders remain in education. This book includes: - field-tested tools, templates, and forms - school-university program leadership development tools that are research-based - strategies that can be used and applied in any leadership development endeavor - performance assessment tools and documentation - school leader voices and reflections throughout

Wonderfully written, comprehensive, and helpful to parents, educators, and students. This book will make a great contribution to educational practice' - Carol Shakeshaft, Professor, Foundations, Leadership and Policy Studies , Hofstra University This book is intended to help educators, especially school and district administrators, to identify, understand, evaluate, react, and ultimately prevent sexual abuse in K-12 schools. The book focuses on two pronged challenges. The first is on how to spot exploitation, specifically on what to look for in recognizing early warning signs. The other is on how to stop exploitation; the action steps schools can take to prevent sexual exploitation, to intervene and get help for abused children, and to respond promptly and appropriately if it occurs. Other topics that are addressed include standards of care for a safe school, definitions of child molestation and sexual abuse, legal issues, prevention and response to sexual abuse, protecting students and teachers, harassment and abuse policy and response plan.

Our society has always been drawn to the subject of jury trials with a mixture of fascination and anxiety, and we often tend to associate the jury process with criminal trials. In real life, including the world of public, private and parochial education, school leaders are much more likely to get involved in a civil trial. This generally means a case involving liability for alleged negligence. However, school leaders are not immune from involvement in criminal actions. A few examples of the hundreds of situations in which school leaders have recently been involved as defendants, plaintiffs, witnesses, or respondents include: o Criminal defendant: sexual assault o Civil defendant: employment discrimination o Criminal plaintiff: coach assaulted by parent o Civil plaintiff: teacher alleging defamation o Character witness: student seeks diversion agreement o Factual witness: administrator passing in hallway when science lab explodes o Respondent to interrogatories: principal required to compile and produce employment records, curriculum guides, test scores, and more o Consulting expert witness: school leaders helping attorneys understand high-stake testing procedures o Testifying expert witness: explaining proper methods of instruction in the use of industrial art shop equipment The book examines similar situations and others that have arisen out of, or due to, civil or criminal negligence on the part of school leaders, and provides examples, some of which were handled correctly with positive outcomes and others in which specific errors caused significant problems.