An Administrator's Guide to California Private School Law

Chapter 11 – Mandated Reporting

with him at all times. The Court also found that the clergy had no duty to report the abuse under CANRA because no duty arises when the information is learned from confidential penitential communications.

Schools and religious institutions have a duty to protect the minors under their care from abuse carried out by their employees. To fulfill this duty schools and religious institutions should take several steps. First, they should carry out professionally constructed, thorough background checks on all final candidates before they are hired. Second, if a school or religious institution becomes aware of an employee’s pre- employment history of abusing children, the school or institution has a duty to take appropriate and immediate steps to protect the safety of children. Depending on the circumstances, this may mean terminating the employee, limiting contact with children, and/or closely supervising the employee’s interactions with children. Third, because mandated reporting is an individual obligation, schools should strongly encourage (but cannot require) that employees who suspect abuse by another employee to inform school officials. Once a school, through its officials, holds a reasonable suspicion of abuse by an employee, it has a duty to report within 24 hours; take immediate steps, appropriate to the circumstances to prevent further possible abuse pending an investigation; and disclose the suspected incidents to the child’s parents or legal guardians in a timely manner. .

LCW Practice Advisor

A growing number of concerns regarding sexual exploitation of minors pertain to “sexting,” or the exchange of sexual images via cell phone or other electronic device. Many students engage in mutually consensual sexting with romantic or sexual partners or other classmates. However, sometimes situations arise where one student obtains an image of another student without consent and either views it or distributes it to others. Schools are often confused about what to do with respect to reports of sexting. Some states have enacted laws that protect teenage sexters. For example, in New York state, if two people under 20 years old who are five or fewer years in age difference exchange sexually explicit pictures, they can be sent to a diversion program instead of being prosecuted criminally. This program focuses on education regarding the risks and dangers of sexting. 1861 California has not enacted such a law addressing this issue. Under the letter of the law in California, some types of sexting may be mandated reports. For example, Pen. Code, § 11165.1 gives examples of acts that constitute sexual exploitation under the law and are therefore reportable. One of these examples is any act in violation of Penal Code

An Administrator’s Guide to California Private School Law ©2019 Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 419