It’s been six months since a student at a Kamloops school reported that she was struck, groped and kissed by four boys.
The allegation came in the same week as a similar one — and complainants in both instances believed that school officials had done little to respond.
WATCH: Kamloops school district works to address sexual harassment allegations
The mother of the first alleged victim said the family is doing as well as expected, and moving forward.
They’re doing that as the Kamloops/Thompson school district has released a report, with recommendations for change around how it handles sexual assaults.
One of those recommendations? Improve students’ education around issues such as consent.
“I think that what these incidents have done is shine a light on an issue that we have to date not tackled as assertively as we are,” said Supt. Alison Sidow.
“We need to look at when we’re educating students around healthy relationships, healthy boundaries and sexual consent.”
The report came after the school district struck a task force, which looked to find out how widespread peer-to-peer sexualized violence was in its schools, and review policies at the same time.
The mother of the first alleged victim commended the task force, and said the report was “very thorough.”
“I think they were really effective naming the issues that contributed to this happening,” she said.
The district will have an updated definition of sexual misconduct, and it will be easier for students to report bad behaviour now, while staff will be shown how to handle complaints properly.
“I’m just happy other children will be safer now because of this,” the mother said.
- Video report by Geoff Hastings