Mercer Island safety committee urges clearer boundaries, new reporting steps after student survey

The Mercer Island School District'led Student Safety & Well'Being Committee presented a package of recommendations to the school board after eight months of meetings and a student'created survey that drew roughly 399 high'school responses.

Frank Scott, co'facilitator of the committee, told the board the group drew on a cross'section of district staff, teachers, parents, community members and four student representatives and worked with outside experts including Harborview and the King County Sexual Assault Resource Center to produce a report and suggested policy edits.

Student representatives described their survey, which they drafted and reviewed with facilitators and administrators. "We made every question optional and it by itself taking the survey was optional, but we actually got around 400 responses," said Kavia, a 10th'grade student representative, summarizing the high'school results. The survey found more than 90% of respondents said they felt safe "most of the time" or "always," while about 10% said they felt unsafe at least sometimes; of that latter group, roughly 65% attributed their concerns to student'to'student conflict rather than staff interactions.

Aurora, co'lead of the professional boundaries subcommittee, said the group focused revisions on Policy 5253 and Procedure 5253 and recommended clearer, student'centered language. "Professional boundary violations may in fact include grooming behaviors," Aurora said, urging the policy explicitly reference grooming and expand examples to include electronic communications, favoritism and outside'of'school contacts.

The committee proposed several operational changes intended to increase reporting and follow-up. Stephanie Boyer, who led the reporting and follow-up subcommittee, recommended multiple, student'friendly reporting routes (trusted adults, See Something Say Something, and external partners) and better follow-up communications so reporters know how the district responded. She highlighted an example from Islanders Middle School in which the principal uses the See Something Say Something tool to communicate anonymously with the reporter to request more information and to explain follow-up steps.

Other recommendations the committee plans to present in writing to the board include:
- Revising Policy 5253 (professional boundaries) and aligning it with the district'level sexual harassment policy (Policy 3205) to clarify what constitutes misconduct, discipline and protections against retaliation; the committee noted some legal language in model policies limits how school settings are described and recommended local clarification where permitted.
- Creating student'facing materials (flowcharts, videos) and pushing student'led peer education, including a student'produced video about grooming and sexual assault education developed with experts.
- Establishing a Teal Ribbon initiative to mark adults who have completed specialized training and are identifiable as safe reporting contacts.
- Piloting a trauma'informed student advocate role to support students through reporting and follow-up; committee members said existing Family Services mental health counselors could partner in such a role.
- Strengthening onboarding and continuous training for all staff (including substitutes and midyear hires) and conducting a K'12 curriculum review so students receive repeated, developmentally appropriate instruction on boundaries and reporting.

Board members asked about survey methods and whether student'to'student conflict would be addressed; students and facilitators said open'ended comments were part of the survey and that student'to'student issues could be added to future committee scope. Committee co'chairs said a written committee report will be delivered to the board before the scheduled June 25 meeting and the Presidium consultant report is expected roughly June 18; the board and administration will prioritize next steps over the summer.

The session closed after the presentation and Q&A; the committee will submit a detailed written report and proposed edits to policy language ahead of the board meeting for consideration.