Jamie Wright didn鈥檛 know that what was happening to her as a little girl was wrong.
鈥淚 thought that everybody was touched, and I thought that everybody's mom screamed out for help,鈥� Wright said.
No one taught Wright that she deserved better until she was an adult. But today, there are educators who are having that conversation with children in their classrooms.
Laura Norman鈥檚 classroom at Daggett Middle School in Fort Worth is covered in laminated American history posters. But her students didn鈥檛 learn about the revolutionary war or the Alamo last Tuesday. The school counselors, Cheryl Wesley and Theresa Ortiz, taught a lesson about abuse and healthy relationships instead.
Some Texas students learn about forms of abuse in school 鈥� but they need their parents鈥� permission to hear the lesson. Advocates say that requirement is an obstacle that does more harm than good.
Opt-in Barrier
The counselors at Daggett Middle School outlined the different types of abuse in their presentation 鈥� physical, emotional, neglect and sexual. They also talked about listening to their inner voice.
鈥淚t is important to recognize and trust ourselves when something doesn't feel right,鈥� Wesley said.
The program for the middle school students is titled 鈥減rotecting a masterpiece.鈥� Angela Hicks, the director of elementary student engagement for Fort Worth Independent School District, said the program is geared toward the middle school age group. The district also has similar trainings for other age groups.
A few of the kids in Norman鈥檚 class were sent to the library before the counselors started their presentation. Students need written parental consent to get abuse prevention education under 鈥� and those kids鈥� parents didn鈥檛 give theirs.
Molly Voyles, the public policy director for the Texas Council on Family Violence, said the state doesn鈥檛 mandate schools to educate students about abuse. Voyles said requiring parental consent makes districts less likely to do it. She said that can be harmful.
鈥淲hen you create parental opt ins or opt outs, it's most likely to impact the children with the highest vulnerability,鈥� Voyles said.
Hicks said the parental consent requirement has been challenging. She said over half of the perpetrators of child abuse and trafficking are related to their victims.
More parents in Fort Worth ISD are opting in for the education. Last year, Hicks said 10,000 students were allowed to participate in the abuse prevention training. This year more than three times than that participated. Hicks said that鈥檚 about half of the students in the district. She said parents are seeing the difference abuse prevention makes.
鈥淥bviously, they feel like it is a good program and that they do want their students to learn skills in order to keep themselves safe,鈥� Hicks said.
Safety Net
The abuse prevention training can still make a difference for the kids who don鈥檛 hear the lesson.
Christina Galanis is the director of secondary student engagement for Fort Worth Independent School District. She said the students who don鈥檛 hear the lesson have a safety net because their friends and classmates learned about healthy relationships and abuse.
鈥淚t still protects those that don't have that knowledge, because they may lean on a peer or confide in a peer. So it gives that herd immunity kind of mentality,鈥� Galanis said.
Wright said that made a difference for her as a little girl. Her sister confided in a friend about the abuse when they were young. The friend knew that the abuse wasn鈥檛 ok and told her parents, who told the school.
The abuse was no longer a secret. But Wright still faced challenges because of it. She dropped of junior high school and got pregnant at age 14 by a man who was twice her age. Wright said she would鈥檝e had healthier relationships growing up if she had the right tools.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 tell me that if somebody had taught me that, especially in my formative years, that I鈥檇 be navigating life in this hard space that I鈥檓 in right now,鈥� Wright said.
Today, Wright shares her story about how she survived domestic violence as a child and adult to give others the voice she didn鈥檛 have.
Language makes a difference. William West, a prevention manager at the Texas Council on Family Violence, said giving kids the words to describe the harm they鈥檙e going through empowers them to seek help for the rest of their lives.
He said that鈥檚 why teaching young people about the signs of abuse is essential for building community resilience.
鈥淲hen you can have that education, it works to break intergenerational cycles,鈥� West said. 鈥淚t works to increase health seeking behaviors. It works to decrease isolation.鈥�
And all of that starts when students learn about it at school in a classroom like Ms. Norman鈥檚 at Daggett Middle School.
It鈥檚 a lesson the Texas Council on Family Violence said every student in the state should learn. But for now, school districts don鈥檛 have to teach it. And the districts that do teach it have to ask for parents鈥� permission.
Got a tip? Email Caroline Love at clove@kera.org.
Caroline Love is a Corps member for 四虎影院.
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