Special meeting for Pittsfield City and school leadership on child sex abuse prevention

Pittsfield, Mass. (NEWS10) — The City of Pittsfield leadership and the school committee will be deciding on training for students, parents and staff regarding inappropriate relationships. Two administrators are on administrative leave relating to sexual misconduct charges.

In a special joint session, the Pittsfield School Committee and City Council listened to a presentation given about child sex abuse, “Enough. Preventing child sexual abuse in my school.”

“The U.S.  Department of Education saying one in 10 children are saying they have experienced inappropriate sexual contact by an adult in their school sometime between k thru 12, you stand up and say, this is unacceptable,” said Enough Abuse, Executive Director, Jetta Bernier.

Lifelong Pittsfield resident, Paul Gregory with the only public comment of the night, “It is our responsibility to provide our youth, our students, the best possible care, support and guidance we can give them. Keeping in mind that when the word transparency is used, it many times follows an event or events that have betrayed the public trust.”

“We all know that for a long time the issue of child sexual abuse has been something people just didn’t want to talk about,” said Bernier.

But that is exactly what the meeting was about, and Executive Director Bernier presented a list of five goals to consider when addressing sexual misconduct with students, parents, and educators. 

Enough Abuse proposed prevention goals and actions:

• Educate school employees to identify and respond to adult interactions with children
• Educate Junior and Senior High School students about child sexual abuse and prevention
• Strengthen school policies/practices to prevent employee sexual misconduct
• Educate school parents about preventing child sexual abuse
• Engage area communities in preventing child sexual abuse

Bernier says the cost is only $20 a learner and they can give discounts to larger groups. However, no decisions were made tonight as the school committee and the superintendent still need to discuss the matter. It is unclear when a decision will be made.