Mercer Island committee outlines policy changes and third‑party audit to prevent student sexual assault

The Mercer Island School District’s Student Safety and Well‑Being Committee updated the community on efforts to prevent sexual assault and strengthen reporting, training and staff‑student boundaries.

“We are steadfast and resolute in our commitment to preventing sexual assaults and establishing appropriate boundaries,” Dr. Rundle said in a district webinar held during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. The committee was formed last fall and, the district said, has met five times as a full group with nine additional subgroup meetings.

Student members reported that a student safety survey, distributed in late December and early January, drew more than 400 responses across grades and showed confusion about which behaviors cross a boundary and hesitancy to report out of fear of retaliation or uncertainty about follow‑through. Student Wilder said the committee is producing a roughly 10‑minute student‑made video on grooming and boundary awareness that will be reviewed by outside experts before release.

School Board President Stephanie Bernett, who chairs the professional boundaries subcommittee, said the group has focused on updating District Policy 5253 to better define a spectrum of boundary invasions and to explicitly prohibit grooming behaviors. "Our goal has been to ensure that any behavior that could reasonably be interpreted as grooming is clearly identified and explicitly prohibited in Mercer Island schools," Bernett said. She described proposed changes that would restrict staff friending or following students on non‑district platforms, limit non‑district communications to administrator‑approved channels with parent access, and emphasize observable, interruptible one‑on‑one interactions.

School Board Director Christina Martinez, who leads the reporting and follow‑up subcommittee, said the district currently uses a See Something Say Something app but that awareness—particularly among parents—is uneven. Martinez said the subcommittee is exploring ways to simplify reporting pathways and to balance the need for anonymous reporting with the district’s ability to follow up. She described a proposed student advocate role, developed with input from Mercy Youth and Family Services and King County Sexual Assault Resource Center, to support students through follow‑up.

On curriculum and training, Dr. Rundle said committees reviewed what students learn at different grade levels and added "safe touching" units for first and third grades, noted health lessons at fifth grade, and reiterated health classes for grades 6–8 and 9–12 as primary settings for boundary education. The training subcommittee is distinguishing mandatory compliance training from deeper staff development and is working to equip parents and community partners with consistent tools and messages.

As a next step, the district has contracted Prescidium, a third‑party organization, to conduct an independent review. Prescidium will do building walkthroughs and interviews on April 28–30 and is expected to deliver a report in mid‑June; the committee plans to review that report and present recommendations to the school board at the end of June, with an action plan to follow.

The committee emphasized that some recommendations will be quick fixes while others will require longer work and that the effort will continue beyond a single year. The webinar closed with students and committee leaders stressing the importance of concrete actions and clear communication to build trust in reporting and prevention efforts.

The committee did not take formal votes during the webinar; next procedural steps are the Prescidium site visit, a mid‑June report and a school board discussion at the end of June.