An upset mother called us on Friday afternoon, Jan 31. Her daughter is a student at Berne-Knox-Westerlo and the mother was concerned, she told us, about the safety of her daughter and other students. She was looking for reliable information.

“They’re sweeping it under the rug,” she alleged of the school district.

We believe all school districts and the vast majority of educators that work in our public schools, including at Berne-Knox-Westerlo, want to keep their students safe.

The important question becomes how best to do that.

We’ve watched a shift over the past several decades as the schools we cover have gone from open-door policies to installing locked vestibules with codes or passes needed for entry. Security cameras have been installed. Monitors have been employed.

We would argue, though, that one of the most important tools for student safety is communication.

On that Friday afternoon, our Hilltown reporter, Noah Zweifel, immediately contacted both the BKW superintendent and the Albany County Sheriff’s Office.

The superintendent, Bonnie Kane, told him that chemistry teacher Brian McCoy had resigned and answered Zweifel’s other questions by referring to a notice that had been sent to parents the night before.

That was the very notice that engendered worry and led to rumors expressed liberally on social media.

The notice stated that, after being made aware of allegations, “the district immediately began an investigation into this matter. After consulting with local law enforcement and conducting an internal review, the staff member has resigned, and pending Board of Education approval, will no longer be employed by the district.” 

The notice also said, “As a district we take the health and safety of our school community very seriously, and thoroughly investigate all information brought to our attention.”

The notice went on to say that counselors would be available to both faculty and students, and that it recognizes “this news may be difficult for them to process,” without addressing any specific allegations. 

The sheriff’s office did not respond to Zweifel’s inquiry at all. The Enterprise had a good working relationship with Sheriff Craig Apple back when he served as the public relations officer under Sheriff James Campell.

After he became sheriff, in 2011, Apple continued in that role, rather than having a public information officer as most large departments do. He continued to answer our questions until we ran an editorial he didn’t like in 2016.

When he called us to complain about it, we did not back down. Since then, over more than eight years,  the sheriff has rarely responded to our queries. This time was no different.

The Enterprise is the only news outlet that regularly covers the Helderberg Hilltowns and, since the cities and suburban towns in the county have their own police forces, much of the work of the sheriff’s office is done in the rural Hilltowns.

So it seems to us that an office meant to protect and serve should answer Enterprise questions.

We presume no arrest was made since our Freedom of Information Law request for “any documentation related to an investigation into Brian McCoy, who at the time was a chemistry teacher at Berne-Knox-Westerlo” came back with just this: “After a diligent search, no records have been found to fulfill this request.”

We ultimately added to our story a synopsis of what Apple told the Times Union, a paper he frequently talks to: The Times Union reported on Tuesday that Sheriff Craig Apple said the school resource officer had told his office about allegations of McCoy’s inappropriate relationship with a female student, now 18, who allegedly did not want to cooperate with the investigation.

We believe an elected official should answer media queries without favor. The facts then would have been published on Friday rather than letting rumors fester over the weekend for the daily newspaper to read our story and make inquiries that were answered.

The importance of communication, though, applies within our schools as well as to what messages are sent home to parents or relayed by media to the community at large.

Berne-Knox-Westerlo is not alone in dealing with the possibility of sexual misconduct. It is shockingly prevalent in our schools nationwide.

A 2017 study from the National Criminal Justice Reference Service, funded by the United States Department of Justice, estimates that 10 percent of students in kindergarten through 12th grade will experience sexual misconduct by a school employee by the time they graduate from high school.

Other researchers put that percentage much higher while still others note that the incidents are grossly under-reported.

“Such misconduct can result in lifelong consequences for students including negative physical, psychological, and academic outcomes,” the 2017 study says. 

The researchers closely examined five school districts that had experienced an incident of sexual misconduct.

The report notes that “sexual abuse” may include sexual activities with a child that are considered crimes while “sexual misconduct” is a broader term that includes abuse but also encompasses acts that are not criminal but may violate ethical codes, such as sexual contact with a student who is over the age of consent, which is not a crime, but is typically prohibited by school policy. 

“Contrary to common conception, school employee sexual misconduct offenders are typically popular and they often have been recognized for excellence,” the report says.

The primary law that establishes criteria for the prevention of and response to school employee sexual misconduct is Title IX of the Educational Amendments of 1972, the report notes.

Title IX guidance includes six elements to reduce sexual misconduct and the mismanagement of cases. Following is a list of those six elements and what the researchers found in the schools they studied, which can serve as a guide to our schools:

— Policies and procedures

Many did not address all the key elements of Title IX guidance as there was a lack of model policies and ill-defined boundaries around physical contact. The recommendation was to have clear written policies, especially around technology and social-media use and provide guidelines for appropriate behaviors;

— Prevention

Participants were reluctant to believe an incident had occurred in their districts, and school employees and administrators were uncomfortable and hesitant to discuss the topic. The recommendation was to be proactive in reporting suspicious behavior, encourage accountability, and improve district leadership;

— Training

Four of the five districts had various training for staff but none offered training for students or parents. Challenges include time and budget constraints. The recommendation was to offer annual in-person training for staff, students and parents, including real-world examples;

— Reporting

Reporting may be stifled by a number of factors, including fear of community and media response, student and staff reluctance to report, and difficulty identifying warning signs. The recommendation was to have clear guidance for reporting and encourage staff, students, and parents to make reports;

— Investigations

Three of the five school districts improved their investigation processes and strengthened collaborations with criminal justice and child-welfare agencies after experiencing an incident. Poor communication, competing roles, and interference between internal and external investigations were among the challenges. The recommendation was to proactively develop collaborative relationships with criminal justice and child welfare and consider the use of school safety officers on school campuses;

— Response

None of the five districts engaged in all of the responses recommended by Title IX guidance. Some administrators struggled with how to provide support to staff, students, and parents and how to respond to community and media requests in the wake of an incident. The recommendations were to provide support to staff, parents, and students; to develop protocols for proper responses; and to establish accountability measures.

None of the five districts reported providing services to the victims such as counseling, and protecting victims and their families from future harassment and retaliation.

Boundaries for technology were a particular focus with recommendations such as telling educators not to share personal email or passwords with students.

A 2019 study, published by the American Psychology Association, “Prevalence and Prevention of Romantic and Sexual Relationships between High School Students and Educators,” delved into the role social media plays with older students by interviewing 648 young adults who had recently graduated from a United States high school.

The researchers write that “older adolescents may refuse to cooperate with questions about their sexual contacts with adults, particularly if they see such contacts as consensual ….

“Teenagers work to develop their moral compasses by questioning what is ‘right’ and what is ‘wrong’ … Still immersed in the process of establishing a personal ethics code, high school students may have difficulty seeing a sexual relationship with a teacher as unacceptable. This can be difficult for teenagers at or above the age of consent in their state who are challenged with an internal debate regarding their understandings of legal and moral limits.”

Six percent of the young adults in the study reported personal sexual abuse while about 20 percent “indicated knowledge of a peer who had a sexual relationship with an educator.”

Less than one-quarter indicated that they would “definitely tell” others that their friend was having a sexual relationship with an educator.

When asked if they would seriously consider a relationship themselves with an attractive teacher at 16 or 17 years old, 21 percent stated that they “probably” or “definitely” would have done so.

“Respondents reported to believe that forbidding staff from being friends with students on Facebook, Instagram, or similar apps was the most important preventative strategy to consider,” the researchers report.

Another top recommendation was to train peers who can discuss these issues with staff who know what to do.

This brings us to the place where we started: One of the most important tools for student safety is communication.

Dangers can’t be locked out of schools — no matter how many security cameras or safety vestibules or locks are installed — if the problem is within.

Each of the steps in the Title IX guidance involves communication: clear written policies, discussion of difficult issues; training of not just staff but students and parents; reporting clearly any incidents; communicating well with law-enforcement and child-welfare agencies; and responding to the community and media as well as to students, parents, and staff.

Modern schools face ever more challenges. This is one they have to get right.