Ohio Governor Ted Strickland recently signed a law to help prevent teen dating violence in the state, but Athens City Schools already follow procedures to deal with the problem, officials said.
The Tina Croucher Act, named after a teenager who was shot and killed by her ex-boyfriend, will implement educational programs and policy changes in middle and high schools across the state.
For really a number of years
we have had a person dealing both in the middle school and high school coming into classes to speak regarding teen dating violence said Thomas Parsons, the district's director of curriculum and development.
Dating violence discipline procedures will be similar to the school's bullying and violence procedures, and will vary on a case-by-case basis, Parsons said.
The Ohio Department of Education has not sent the school system specific instructions on how to implement the act. Once Athens receives instructions and creates a plan, the school system has 90 days to begin using its new policies, Parsons said.
The teen dating violence policies the schools have in place work well, he said, noting that Athens might not even have to change anything to meet the state's new guidelines.
I think simpler is better. I believe that what we have in place now is already pretty effective
Parsons said.
Another educator said the statewide curriculum will benefit students.
I think any time you can get consistency
I think it's important especially because there's so much movement in today's society
and it's good to know that the information will be the same
said Lisa McCoy, Athens High School assistant principal.
Although McCoy said dating violence is not common at Athens High School, various studies show that it is a problem among teenagers across the United States.
One in 11 adolescents reports being a victim of dating abuse each year, according to a Center for Disease Control and Prevention study from 2006.
In a 2001 Journal of the American Medical Association study, approximately one in five female high school students reported being sexually or physically abused by a dating partner.
As a former hearing officer, Ohio Representative Sandra Stabile Harwood (D-65th District) said she saw many domestic violence cases with adult women.
She added she wanted to stop the cycle of violence at a younger age, so she introduced the Tina Croucher Act in the Ohio House of Representatives.
Kate McGuckin, the executive director of My Sister's Place, an Athens-based battered women's shelter that runs domestic violence prevention programs, said many of the dating violence cases she sees begin with teenagers.
We realize that we need to educate not just young women but young men about what is proper behavior in a relationship
McGuckin said.
The act has minimal state funding because of the economic crisis, so schools will use free materials provided by such organizations as the Liz Claiborne Foundation, Harwood said.
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