End K-12 sex harassment and assault
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If there’s one key takeaway from my years of nonprofit work with families, schools, national organizations, and lawmakers, it’s this: there’s an epidemic of sexual harassment and assault in K-12 schools that is preventable, if only schools knew how to address it.
I’m raising funds to create affordable online training that educates schools about practical steps they can take right now to end the culture of sexual harassment before students enter college and the workplace.
For me it’s a personal calling. Our entire family life was devastated when our 15-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted on a school field trip. The inequitable and unlawful way in which the school district responded to the assault caused her to feel utterly devalued as a human being. She was betrayed by her school, which failed to take the required steps that would have allowed her to continue her education, free of retaliation, after the assault. Today, six years later, she still suffers from the emotional trauma that derailed her education.
The nightmare of our daughter's sexual assault
Like most parents, we believed our child was safe in the care of her school. But our advocacy on her behalf brought us into contact with countless parents whose children also experienced life-altering sexual harassment and assault. I couldn’t remain silent.
Three years ago, I co-founded Stop Sexual Assault in Schools, a national nonprofit that spearheaded the movement to educate the public about the epidemic of K-12 sexual harassment and assault. As Director of Programs, I’ve used my background in education and instructional design to create free educational materials for families including the full-length video Sexual Harassment: Not in Our School! I also helped initiate the national #MeTooK12 campaign, which has been covered widely in the media.
Sexual Harassment: Not in Our School! video
Our schools are in crisis. Research shows that sexual assault, ongoing sexual harassment, and cyber-harassment cause real emotional, psychological, and economic damage to students. Feeling unsafe at school correlates with declining academic performance, skipping school, and dropping out. After their school fails to protect them, some students take their own lives. The victims are girls, boys, and gender non-conforming students. It’s a form of discrimination and it’s against Title IX, a federal civil rights law.
How our school mishandled sexual assault
Most school districts are unprepared to handle sexual assault incidents--both legally and compassionately. School districts often believe they can avoid lawsuits and bad press by denying or ignoring sexual harassment and assault in their schools. Schools often retaliate against families and their own staff who report incidents of student harassment and assault. Because school districts fail to follow the proper procedures, they end up harming the very students they’re supposed to serve.
Schools are unprepared to handle reported sexual assault
With heightened public awareness of sexual harassment in the #MeToo and #MeTooK12 movements, it’s critical that both public and private schools become proactive to avoid costly and damaging personal and institutional consequences, while promoting a safe learning environment for all students.
What’s needed is an affordable, best-practices informed, real-world-based training program that prepares all school staff to respond appropriately to sexual harassment and assault incidents.
Among other critical topics, the one-hour video training will educate district administrators, teachers, counselors, and other school staff on:
• How to proactively address sexual harassment and assault
• How to respond to an incident of sexual assault
• Addressing retaliation
• What happens in a Title IX investigation
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Engaging parents and the community
• Mobilizing teachers and students for school culture change
Having advocated since 2012 for our daughter and other students, I have the expertise and insights to design this training: I understand the subject, I understand schools’ responsibilities through my work with subject experts, and I have designed instruction for all types of organizations for over 25 years.
So vital is this project that I’m donating my time and effort. But I must raise funds to engage a producer, videographers, and programmers to build the training that I design, and make it available to 14,000 public school districts and 34,000 private schools across the country.
Contributors at the $500 level will be credited in the training with their permission.
With this training, not only can we create safe learning places for all students, we can stop the progression of sexual harassment and assault that begins in K-12 schools, continues through colleges, the workplace, and beyond.
When schools have access to affordable, best-practices training, we’ll address the epidemic of K-12 sexual harassment and assault at its source.
Together, we can make lasting change.
Just a few quotes from media reports
The 74 “‘One of our themes is connect the dots,’ Levin said. ‘Where does workplace sexual harassment start? If you trace it back, a lot of these behaviors are started in elementary and secondary schools. They’re practiced there, they’re normalized there because the schools don’t do anything about it, and so people just think, ‘Oh, this is sort of normal behavior.’”
#MeTooK12: One Daughter’s Trauma, and a Family’s Quest to Prevent School-Related Sexual Violence
Christian Science Monitor “‘These entitlement behaviors [and] the normalization of sexual harassment starts in K-12, with the schools not really disciplining students and not really talking about it,’ says Joel Levin, director of programs for Stop Sexual Assault in Schools (SSAIS), a nonprofit he and his wife, Esther Warkov, founded after troubling interactions with the Seattle schools when their daughter was sexually assaulted by another student.”
#MeTooK12: New campaign raises awareness about rights at school
The Washington Post “Nationally, a nonprofit recently created the hashtag #MeTooK12 to encourage students to speak out. ‘They don’t report because they’re afraid of retaliation and they’re afraid they won’t be believed,’ said Joel Levin, co-founder of Stop Sexual Assault in Schools.”
In a prestigious high school math and science program, alumni say #MeToo
District Administration “When a female reports being sexually harassed or groped, and she hears, ‘It’s just boys being boys’ or ‘The boy is doing that because he like you,’ the message the female student is getting is this is normal male behavior, Levin says. ‘When the female student grows up and goes into the workforce, she assumes sexual harassment is normal.’”
#MeTooK12 hashtag combats sexual harassment in schools
EdSource “Joel Levin, cofounder of Stop Sexual Assault in Schools, said he fears the federal Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights will be subjected to budget cuts.”
With Trump's Title IX stance unknown, video aims to educate about sexual harassment at school
The Washington Post “The latest offshoot, #MeTooK12, came from SSAIS, which was started by Esther Warkov and Joel Levin. They are parents who say their daughter, a Seattle high school student at the time, was sexually assaulted on a 2012 overnight field trip…This 2016 story by Washington Post reporter Emma Brown reports that Warkov and Levin went to school officials right away but said they got conflicting information and spent several years trying to figure out what happened, eventually winning a federal investigation by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.”
#MeTooK12: A new hashtag for students sexually assaulted or harassed in K-12 schools
NEA Today “‘Arguably, creating a respectful school culture is more effective than classroom lessons alone in creating sustainable, positive changes in student attitudes and behavior,’ says SSAIS co-founder Joel Levin, who points to a study that shows ‘classroom curriculum alone is not effective for reducing rates of sexual violence. It’s the school-wide component, including student-led campaigns and activities, that are effective in reducing rates of sexual harassment, peer sexual violence perpetration, and dating sexual violence.’”
The Secret of Sexual Assault in Schools
Washington Post “Esther Warkov and Joel Levin, whose daughter was allegedly raped in 2012 during an overnight field trip with her Seattle high school, believe that addressing the problem will take a massive movement of students and families who know what their Title IX rights are and demand that schools meet them....‘It’s fine to have a few people filing OCR complaints, but it doesn’t address the magnitude of the problem,’ Warkov said….Warkov and Levin tell other parents what Title IX requires and how to file federal civil rights complaints if they see violations. They say they want to save other families the heartache and upheaval that they endured as they tried to help their daughter recover — and go back to school — after her rape.”
Sexual violence isn’t just a college problem. It happens in K-12 schools, too.
More media reports from across the country featuring my nonprofit work to address K-12 sexual harassment and assault
Over 100 media reports featuring Stop Sexual Assault in Schools
Over 40 media reports featuring the national #MeTooK12 campaign, which I helped initiate for SSAIS
Joel Levin on LinkedIn
Stop Sexual Assault in Schools website
“This amazing video [Sexual Harassment: Not in Our School! ] follows a high school gender equity club learning how to stop sexual harassment and assault by speaking with a wide range of experts. The video is important for all levels of education and is sure to stimulate discussion and preventive action by students, parents, educators, Title IX Coordinators, and supporters of gender equity.”—Dr. Sue Klein, Education Equity Director, Feminist Majority Foundation
I’m raising funds to create affordable online training that educates schools about practical steps they can take right now to end the culture of sexual harassment before students enter college and the workplace.
For me it’s a personal calling. Our entire family life was devastated when our 15-year-old daughter was sexually assaulted on a school field trip. The inequitable and unlawful way in which the school district responded to the assault caused her to feel utterly devalued as a human being. She was betrayed by her school, which failed to take the required steps that would have allowed her to continue her education, free of retaliation, after the assault. Today, six years later, she still suffers from the emotional trauma that derailed her education.
The nightmare of our daughter's sexual assault
Like most parents, we believed our child was safe in the care of her school. But our advocacy on her behalf brought us into contact with countless parents whose children also experienced life-altering sexual harassment and assault. I couldn’t remain silent.
Three years ago, I co-founded Stop Sexual Assault in Schools, a national nonprofit that spearheaded the movement to educate the public about the epidemic of K-12 sexual harassment and assault. As Director of Programs, I’ve used my background in education and instructional design to create free educational materials for families including the full-length video Sexual Harassment: Not in Our School! I also helped initiate the national #MeTooK12 campaign, which has been covered widely in the media.
Sexual Harassment: Not in Our School! video
Our schools are in crisis. Research shows that sexual assault, ongoing sexual harassment, and cyber-harassment cause real emotional, psychological, and economic damage to students. Feeling unsafe at school correlates with declining academic performance, skipping school, and dropping out. After their school fails to protect them, some students take their own lives. The victims are girls, boys, and gender non-conforming students. It’s a form of discrimination and it’s against Title IX, a federal civil rights law.
How our school mishandled sexual assault
Most school districts are unprepared to handle sexual assault incidents--both legally and compassionately. School districts often believe they can avoid lawsuits and bad press by denying or ignoring sexual harassment and assault in their schools. Schools often retaliate against families and their own staff who report incidents of student harassment and assault. Because school districts fail to follow the proper procedures, they end up harming the very students they’re supposed to serve.
Schools are unprepared to handle reported sexual assault
With heightened public awareness of sexual harassment in the #MeToo and #MeTooK12 movements, it’s critical that both public and private schools become proactive to avoid costly and damaging personal and institutional consequences, while promoting a safe learning environment for all students.
What’s needed is an affordable, best-practices informed, real-world-based training program that prepares all school staff to respond appropriately to sexual harassment and assault incidents.
Among other critical topics, the one-hour video training will educate district administrators, teachers, counselors, and other school staff on:
• How to proactively address sexual harassment and assault
• How to respond to an incident of sexual assault
• Addressing retaliation
• What happens in a Title IX investigation
• Privacy and confidentiality
• Engaging parents and the community
• Mobilizing teachers and students for school culture change
Having advocated since 2012 for our daughter and other students, I have the expertise and insights to design this training: I understand the subject, I understand schools’ responsibilities through my work with subject experts, and I have designed instruction for all types of organizations for over 25 years.
So vital is this project that I’m donating my time and effort. But I must raise funds to engage a producer, videographers, and programmers to build the training that I design, and make it available to 14,000 public school districts and 34,000 private schools across the country.
Contributors at the $500 level will be credited in the training with their permission.
With this training, not only can we create safe learning places for all students, we can stop the progression of sexual harassment and assault that begins in K-12 schools, continues through colleges, the workplace, and beyond.
When schools have access to affordable, best-practices training, we’ll address the epidemic of K-12 sexual harassment and assault at its source.
Together, we can make lasting change.
Just a few quotes from media reports
The 74 “‘One of our themes is connect the dots,’ Levin said. ‘Where does workplace sexual harassment start? If you trace it back, a lot of these behaviors are started in elementary and secondary schools. They’re practiced there, they’re normalized there because the schools don’t do anything about it, and so people just think, ‘Oh, this is sort of normal behavior.’”
#MeTooK12: One Daughter’s Trauma, and a Family’s Quest to Prevent School-Related Sexual Violence
Christian Science Monitor “‘These entitlement behaviors [and] the normalization of sexual harassment starts in K-12, with the schools not really disciplining students and not really talking about it,’ says Joel Levin, director of programs for Stop Sexual Assault in Schools (SSAIS), a nonprofit he and his wife, Esther Warkov, founded after troubling interactions with the Seattle schools when their daughter was sexually assaulted by another student.”
#MeTooK12: New campaign raises awareness about rights at school
The Washington Post “Nationally, a nonprofit recently created the hashtag #MeTooK12 to encourage students to speak out. ‘They don’t report because they’re afraid of retaliation and they’re afraid they won’t be believed,’ said Joel Levin, co-founder of Stop Sexual Assault in Schools.”
In a prestigious high school math and science program, alumni say #MeToo
District Administration “When a female reports being sexually harassed or groped, and she hears, ‘It’s just boys being boys’ or ‘The boy is doing that because he like you,’ the message the female student is getting is this is normal male behavior, Levin says. ‘When the female student grows up and goes into the workforce, she assumes sexual harassment is normal.’”
#MeTooK12 hashtag combats sexual harassment in schools
EdSource “Joel Levin, cofounder of Stop Sexual Assault in Schools, said he fears the federal Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights will be subjected to budget cuts.”
With Trump's Title IX stance unknown, video aims to educate about sexual harassment at school
The Washington Post “The latest offshoot, #MeTooK12, came from SSAIS, which was started by Esther Warkov and Joel Levin. They are parents who say their daughter, a Seattle high school student at the time, was sexually assaulted on a 2012 overnight field trip…This 2016 story by Washington Post reporter Emma Brown reports that Warkov and Levin went to school officials right away but said they got conflicting information and spent several years trying to figure out what happened, eventually winning a federal investigation by the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights.”
#MeTooK12: A new hashtag for students sexually assaulted or harassed in K-12 schools
NEA Today “‘Arguably, creating a respectful school culture is more effective than classroom lessons alone in creating sustainable, positive changes in student attitudes and behavior,’ says SSAIS co-founder Joel Levin, who points to a study that shows ‘classroom curriculum alone is not effective for reducing rates of sexual violence. It’s the school-wide component, including student-led campaigns and activities, that are effective in reducing rates of sexual harassment, peer sexual violence perpetration, and dating sexual violence.’”
The Secret of Sexual Assault in Schools
Washington Post “Esther Warkov and Joel Levin, whose daughter was allegedly raped in 2012 during an overnight field trip with her Seattle high school, believe that addressing the problem will take a massive movement of students and families who know what their Title IX rights are and demand that schools meet them....‘It’s fine to have a few people filing OCR complaints, but it doesn’t address the magnitude of the problem,’ Warkov said….Warkov and Levin tell other parents what Title IX requires and how to file federal civil rights complaints if they see violations. They say they want to save other families the heartache and upheaval that they endured as they tried to help their daughter recover — and go back to school — after her rape.”
Sexual violence isn’t just a college problem. It happens in K-12 schools, too.
More media reports from across the country featuring my nonprofit work to address K-12 sexual harassment and assault
Over 100 media reports featuring Stop Sexual Assault in Schools
Over 40 media reports featuring the national #MeTooK12 campaign, which I helped initiate for SSAIS
Joel Levin on LinkedIn
Stop Sexual Assault in Schools website
“This amazing video [Sexual Harassment: Not in Our School! ] follows a high school gender equity club learning how to stop sexual harassment and assault by speaking with a wide range of experts. The video is important for all levels of education and is sure to stimulate discussion and preventive action by students, parents, educators, Title IX Coordinators, and supporters of gender equity.”—Dr. Sue Klein, Education Equity Director, Feminist Majority Foundation
Organizer
Joel Levin
Organizer
Portland, OR
