September 9, 2021
Multi-year collaboration centers on student health and safety
In July, St. Paul’s School entered into a comprehensive, multi-phase engagement with RAINN (Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network), the nation’s largest anti-sexual violence organization.
The two-year engagement has begun with a comprehensive audit and assessment of the School’s sexual misconduct prevention and response programming, including its policies, trainings, and response protocols. RAINN also will be engaging directly with members of the SPS community, beginning this month, as it formally assesses the School’s culture around sexual misconduct prevention and response. Through the end of 2021, the community engagement will be inclusive of current and former faculty, staff, and students. It will consist of surveys, as well as one-on-one interviews and group interviews with key stakeholders.
“We are grateful for the opportunity to work with RAINN in strengthening school culture at SPS,” Rector Kathy Giles says. “They do extraordinarily important work across a diverse range of organizations, and it is already clear that their experience, perspective, and knowledge will help us continue to build a better environment for our students. We will engage fully with this work.”
After completing its discovery work, RAINN will conduct a gap analysis, identifying strengths, opportunities, and weaknesses that will inform its development of a multifaceted implementation plan for SPS. In the implementation phase of work (expected to begin in April 2022), RAINN will work with the School to help plan ways to resolve issues identified in the gap analysis, as well as create and refine key programmatic deliverables, including updated sexual misconduct policies for students and adults. RAINN also will provide additional training and will help St. Paul’s School develop a standardized annual review process to continually assess and improve sexual misconduct prevention and response strategies.
The School will provide members of its community with regular updates regarding the phases of work underway. Please watch for updates.