OMAHA, Neb. – Omaha teachers are learning about “safe touching areas” and are having “conversations about hugging.”

Those may seem like topics that teachers would discuss with naïve and vulnerable children.

But unfortunately a lot of teachers need brushing up on the topic of teacher/student sexual abuse before they can help the youngsters they serve.

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Omaha Public Schools administrators attended training sessions on educator sexual misconduct late last year following a high-profile case in which a local teacher allegedly abused several teenage girls, and district officials did not properly report the incidents to police, Omaha.com reports.

The administrators are now sharing what they learned at the training sessions with district staff.

The training sessions “are mandated by the superintendent,” Roddie Miller, Omaha Public Schools’ district safety administrator, told EAGnews.org.

The plan is to educate all Omaha Public Schools employees on identifying inappropriate relationships between students and adult employees, as well as the proper reporting requirements, over the course of the next two years.

“We’re going to get the teachers done this school year and we’ll work with the other staff next year,” Miller said.

Better late than never

The training comes after district officials faced harsh public criticism for failing to immediately report suspected sexual abuse by Nathan Hale Middle School teacher Shad Knutson, who was convicted last March of sexually abusing a 13-year-old female student.

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During Knutson’s trial, the public learned OPS officials had received complaints of Knutson’s behavior with students on multiple occasions before they contacted police. One girl told school officials the teacher had exposed himself and asked her for sex acts, but they didn’t believe the girl, and transferred her to a different school.

A second girl told school officials a month later that Knutson asked for a picture of her breasts, and though they found her story credible, officials only conducted an internal investigation and eventually returned the teacher to the classroom, Omaha.com reports.

A third victim complained to school leaders about Knutson in October 2010, alleging he had touched her breasts and attempted to lure her into sexual behaviors. When school officials declined to call police in that case, the parents of the victim followed through themselves.

In March 2013, Knutson was convicted for his actions in only one of four inappropriate relationships he allegedly had with students. He was sentenced in June to nine to 14 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after six.

A jury foreman who later spoke with Omaha.com said the district’s interference in the case and delay in reporting the incidents was a major reason why jurors didn’t convict Knutson on the other charges.

“We were disappointed in the amount of investigation from OPS,” the foreman, a 29-year-old student and mechanic, told Omaha.com. “We understand it was their protocol. But it seems like there was mass miscommunication within OPS. We were very disappointed in how it was all handled.”

Parents of Knutson’s victims were also unimpressed by the district’s handling of the complaints, but Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine declined to charge school officials with failing to report the suspected child abuse to police.

School leaders changed the district’s abuse reporting policy shortly after the Knutson case to require notice within 24 hours of any suspected abuse. Previously district policy was to conduct an internal investigation to determine if there was reasonable cause to contact authorities, Omaha.com reports.

OPS administrators learned in the recent training, however, that immediate reporting is best, Miller said.

“We simply follow the law and as soon as it’s seen we report it to the child victims unit of the police department,” she said.

Training sessions

Miller said the Knutson case convinced administrators they needed “to do something to provide information on what is sexual misconduct and what to do.”

Public criticisms of the district’s handling of the Knutson allegations prompted incoming superintendent Mark Evans to schedule training sessions on educator sexual misconduct used in his previous district near Wichita, Kansas.

The training was provided to about 250 OPS administrators in November for free, through the U.S. Department of Education’s Readiness and Emergency Management for Schools Technical Assistance Center. REMS, which is managed by a private corporation called Synergy Enterprises, Inc., flew three presenters to Omaha to teach district officials how to train the rest of the staff on a wide variety of educator sexual misconduct issues.

During the 8-hour training session, REMS contractors discussed state laws governing child abuse and the district’s policies, as well as specific topics like toileting for special education employees. Other topics included policies for field trips and student transportation, issues with talking to the media, and the boundaries of physical contact with students, officials said.

“You want staff to have a good relationship with their students, but there’s things you have to be aware of, or things you could see that are inappropriate – comments, hugging, safe touching areas,” Evans told Omaha.com. “We had a lot of conversations about hugging.”

A brochure from the training session provided to EAGnews by OPS outlined behavioral guidelines governing adult-student interactions.

“Green light behaviors” encourage educators to treat and touch all students in a consistent manner, and spells out safe touching zones like the head, shoulders, upper back, arms and hands. “Yellow light behaviors” – such as singling out students for favors, overly personal communications, and sexual innuendo – are to be considered suspicious and should be eliminated, according to the brochure.

“Red light behaviors” include being alone with a student in a locked room, discussions about a student’s sexuality, and after-school meetings with students in the community should be avoided, the training materials state.

Educators also learned the different phases of child sexual exploitation, and the tactics of “socially skilled” child molesters.

Miller said the training was “very well received.”

Omaha administrators are now working to train teachers on the information they learned from REMS through shorter two-hour training sessions, and are required by the superintendent to complete the teacher training by the end of the year, Miller said.

District officials are also looking into continuing the training with online refresher courses every two to three years, she said.