Organizational Betrayal: How Schools Enable Sexual Misconduct and How to Stop It

Summary

In Organizational Betrayal, educational researcher Charol Shakeshaft advocates a system-wide approach for safeguarding K–12 students against educator sexual misconduct.

Based on decades of inquiry into cases of student abuse in educational systems, the work reveals that sexual abuse of children in US K–12 schools is more prevalent than we'd like to believe. Examining the root causes and contexts, Shakeshaft concludes that school cultures and institutional structures are often complicit in cases of sexual misconduct.

Shakeshaft suggests straightforward actions that can interrupt patterns of abuse and trauma, including teaching both potential bystanders and potential victims of school employee sexual misconduct the policies regulating adult–student interactions in schools; training all members of a school community to recognize red flags and boundary crossing; and investigating the difference between good teaching and questionable tactics that should trigger suspicion.

The documentation provided in this book is persuasive, and it compels examination of school cultures, decisions, and practices, with a goal of preventing the abuse of students by school employees.