Sexually active students must be reported to law enforcement or state officials, Ore. school...

[demmiblue]

Source: The Washington Post

Teachers and staff in the Salem-Keizer school district — which includes more than 40,000 students — were recently told that if they learn or merely suspect a student is sexually active, they must report it to law enforcement or state officials.

According to Oregon law, anyone under 18 years old cannot legally give consent, meaning all sexual activity between minors is considered sexual abuse. This policy, district officials say, stems from Oregon’s mandatory reporting and child abuse laws. But that seems to be a singular interpretation of the law. The Statesman Journal reached out to school districts around the state and found that not one of them had the same mandate.

The subject came up at a training session for teachers and staff in the school district because “we felt like we hadn’t made it clear enough,” as Superintendent Christy Perry told the Statesman Journal.

During the presentation, the district offered several specific examples of when an employee needs to contact law enforcement. These include a 15-year-old telling a teacher that she is having sex with her boyfriend and wants to learn about birth control, or a 17-year-old confiding in a teacher that his 16-year-old girlfriend is pregnant.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/11/03/sexually-active-students-must-be-reported-to-law-enforcement-or-state-officials-ore-school-district-says/

[Doodley]

1. Why not just fit male and female chastity belts?

[procon]

2. If the school Superintendent is criminalizing sex then every student who

is sexually active can be charged with sexual abuse by law enforcement. That would put them on the list of sex offenders, ruining their entire lives.

What the hell are they thinking!

[Laffy Kat]

3. Oh, that'll work.

What are they going to do, throw them in jail? And why do I have a feeling this will focus on girls more than boys? Just have a feelin'....

[Grins]

29. ...and worse!

They will be registered by the state as a sex offender/predator, and that will follow them their entire lives! Oregon once went after a 6-year old boy for kissing a girl - on her hand! He would have been declared a sex predator by the state. Even the WSJ screamed about that one.

[Bob Loblaw]

4. I suspect this law was written

by some who are sexually active by themselves, while fantasizing about sexually active teens.

[mdbl]

5. just when you think things can't get any weirder

someone needs to clarify the difference between two minors and an adult and a minor in that law. How stupid.

[YOHABLO]

6. So they will go by hearsay? Will they be having exams of girls' privates?

[mercuryblues]

7. I suggest the teachers

and report every single student. Overwhelm the PD with investigating this.

[riversedge]

8. OMG! This is so unbelieveable that someone would even think about doing this.

[HAB911]

9. Masturbaters should unite and self report!

[demmiblue]

10. !

[dembotoz]

11. Who needs the taliban?

[Vinca]

12. What a stupid idea. So much for police catching murderers, burglars and Trump family members.

They'll be tied up writing reports about Tammy's sweet sixteen party and the tryst behind the birthday presents.

[JDC]

13. Preposterous.

[Maggiemayhem]

14. This is so backwards

What the hell does law enforcement have to do with this? If a cop came to my door and told me a teacher suspected my child was sexually active, I think I would blow a gasket. The fucking teacher would be next. I t doesn’t even have to be true to taint a childs record.Don't the cops have better things to do like catch real criminals?

[keithbvadu2]

15. "merely suspect" - Scarlet Letter with a question mark

[Nitram]

16. Oh, Gawd, The New Puritanism raises its ugly head.

So no student will ever go to a teacher about advice related to sex. that's progress?

[xor]

28. I wonder if this puritanism or a very misguided CYA type of thing.

I can't seem to find anything more as to the logic behind why they think this makes the students "more safe" I wish reporters were more aggressive at digging into the details when it comes to stuff like this. Is this just a knee-jerk stupid decision on some administrators parts, or are there some deeper issues driving this.

[SCVDem]

17. I've seen this movie.

It ends with a big concert in New York and the entire social fabric of America is changed by the revolution.

Young people WILL rebel!

[Chakaconcarne]

18. There are 3 Trump touting, social conservatives newly elected to the school board

(Kathy Goss, Jesse Lippole and Marty Heyen) pushing this and choosing to interpret a law to fit their morality. The only school district in the state doing this.

[Zambero]

23. So, crotch-grabbing...

would be exempted from the list of "reportable activities"?

[xor]

30. Is there documentation of these people pushing this?

Do they bring it up in meetings or what? I'm always curious how this stuff comes about.

[Sancho]

19. As an educator who taught middle and high school...

I'd just have to turn in my entire class roster.

I started teaching in 1976, and I assume that any students from middle school up could be sexually active. I can't remember a year that we didn't know of a student that was pregnant, or a students weren't "caught" under the stadium seats or whatever you can imagine.

It's not always "simple", since students talk and joke about sex a lot, and the examples are not realistic. Of course students will sometimes directly tell the teacher they are pregnant or ask for help, but more often the teacher observes some behavior or overhears a conversation. It's pretty common to refer a student to a counselor or some other service.

Sorry, but even in conservative school districts sex education starts with adolescents (of course parents can usually have their darlings opt out).

If they wanted to investigate for abuse every teenager having sex, they'd have to hire more social workers and cops than teachers. I don't think anyone really knows, but I'd guess by the time they leave high school a large percentage of students are no longer virgins (half or more)? They do surveys and things, but those are self-report and not necessarily accurate.

Is Oregon going to arrest someone or investigate 10,000 students in the Salem-Keizer district for "abuse"?

[Chemisse]

24. So if two 16-year-olds had sex with each other,

They would both be charged with a sex crime? Each would be both a perpetrator and a victim!

[Judi Lynn]

25. Some people in power clearly have too much time on their hands. This is shabby, beneath everyone. nt

[BadGimp]

26. INSANE!!

[bronxiteforever]

27. Drive it underground. Chilling effect. This will encourage the spread of disease.

I can’t think of anything that will make this policy worse.

[Corey_Baker08]

31. WTF?

[malthaussen]

32. Frankly, I can hardly frame a response...

... this has got to be the stupidest idea I've heard all day, although it is before noon.

-- Mal

[appleannie1943]

33. Where did these people leave their brains?

First of all, tell a teen they can't do something and they will run right out and do it first chance they get. Second, if a teen is engaging in sexual activity, the best thing to do is educate them on possible consequences and protection not only from pregnancy but from disease. Third, you are encouraging young people to sneak and lie if you enforce things like this. And fourth, it is none of law enforcement's damn business. Are they going to put stocks in front of the school to shame kids too?

[maxsolomon]

34. Under His Eye

nt

[bluestarone]

35. what the hell is going on in Oregon

This is the dumbest fucking thing i've ever heard stupid bastards

[RKP5637]

36. TPTB must get really got and turned on by this, thinking about all those kids and sex!!! n/t

[Skittles]

37. ridiculous

[truthisfreedom]

38. This is beyond sick. It punishes children for being human. It forces children to remain uninformed.

It's just sick, sick, sick.

There are obviously no adults in charge. I thought Oregon leans Democratic? What the hell has gone wrong?

Kids need guidance, not punishment, when it comes to the biological imperative.