VCU news

By Mary Kate Brogan
School of Pharmacy

Charol Shakeshaft, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at the Virginia Commonwealth University School of Education, shared her expertise as a researcher who studies the prevention of educator sexual misconduct in a new CBS Reports documentary, “Pledge of Silence: Sex Abuse and Cover-Up in America’s Schools.”

The program, which aired April 13, followed an investigation into a California school district where multiple educators were accused of sexual abuse. In her investigative report, CBS News correspondent Meg Oliver highlighted how sexual abuse by teachers and the associated cover-up is a chronic problem in schools nationwide. She asked Shakeshaft, author of the forthcoming book “Organizational Betrayal: How Schools Enable Employee Sexual Misconduct and How to Stop It,” how widespread it is.

“This abuse is happening in just about any kind of district you can think of — rural districts, urban, suburban, high-income, low-income, middle-income,” Shakeshaft told Oliver. “First, the teacher grooms the students and grooms the environment, and so the grooming process [for abusers] is: Get people to trust you and trust that what you say about yourself — i.e., ‘I’m a good person’ — is accurate, and so people then don’t suspect.”

On average, CBS reported, these abusers pass through three school districts and can abuse as many as 73 children in their lifetimes. Shakeshaft, who is conducting research on how to prevent educator sexual misconduct with funding from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said the onus is on school employees to “look at a red flag, to look at a boundary-crossing of a colleague, and report” it to protect students.

“It’s not the students’ job to set the boundaries. We’re supposed to be teaching them the boundaries,” Shakeshaft said. “These are kids. It’s our job to teach them about the world and how to be safe; it’s not their job to try to figure out how to be safe. There’s no consent in schools — teachers are the boss, students have to do what the teachers say. There’s no equality. There’s the teacher and the student, and it’s a hierarchy.”

Watch Shakeshaft in CBS Reports’ “Pledge of Silence: Sex Abuse and Cover-Up in America's Schools.”