MFISD teen sex-predator program needed in the Highland Lakes community
But even more important, counselors at Marble Falls Middle School and Marble Falls High School plan to go a step further and talk about inappropriate relationships between adults and teens.
Most high school students and middle school students are well past the “stranger-danger” stage, which is taught at the elementary level. But what they may not realize is that older students are more likely to be victimized by somebody they know.
Counselors and MFISD administrators are hoping the programs will help students know when a line is crossed.
This is a wise step on the part of MFISD leaders.
Officials said the school district for quite some time has offered “stranger-danger” programs to elementary school pupils to help the children recognize a threat, but until now the district hasn’t offered a similar program at the secondary level.
Superintendent Ryder Warren said the time has come, and he is absolutely right.
“It seems every month I get a notification from the Marble Falls or Granite Shoals police department that another sex offender has moved into the area,” Warren told The Daily Tribune last week. “(But) it’s not just strangers that pose a problem for our students, especially at the secondary level.”
When you’re a teen, you’re filled with the exuberance of life. That’s a good trait, but it is often accompanied by a false sense of invulnerability that time and experience will strip away. Unfortunately, that very essence of invulnerability, the attitude that “I’m young, strong, alive and nothing can happen to me” is exactly the kind of hubris that gets youths into serious trouble.
Too often teens don’t realize when an older “friend” is asking for too much.
According to the National Center for Victims of Crime, “Three in four American adolescents who were sexually assaulted were victimized by someone they knew well.”
The assailant can be an adult friend, an employer, an authority figure, a boyfriend or a girlfriend, even a relative.
The figures are both frightening and sad. According to various research, 1.8 million U.S. adolescents have been the victims of sexual assault; 33 percent of sexual assaults occur when the victim is between the ages of 12-17; females comprised 82 percent of all juvenile victims; teens 16 to 19 years of age were 3 1/2 times more likely than the general population to be victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assault; and a survey of high school adolescents showed that 12 percent of girls and 5 percent of boys had experienced sexual abuse.
These figures are shocking and regrettable. No child should have to suffer such a crime.
The MFISD initiative can help. The counselors want to reinforce for older students the boundaries that should be in place for teen-adult relationships and what constitutes a healthy friendship.
The high school program will be conducted during regular small group meetings. Two individual small groups will be combined so there are male and female mentors present. The high school program will entail a 12-minute basic overview video that covers awareness for teenagers.
Parents and guardians should support this initiative, and students should make it a point to attend these sessions. The school district is on the right track.