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Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law a bipartisan bill co-authored by local Assemblywoman Catharine Baker (R-San Ramon) that requires the State Department of Education to establish guidelines and best practices for child-abuse prevention in schools and school programs.
Assembly Bill 1058, which passed both legislative houses last month without dissent, will take effect Jan. 1.
“We must take every possible precaution to ensure the safety of every child, and this includes preventing the circumstances which might allow for child abuse to occur on our school campuses or in school programs,” Baker, whose district includes Pleasanton, said in a statement Monday.
“AB 1058 will equip teachers and other school employees with the tools and training to prevent child abuse in schools more effectively,” she added.
Co-authored by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Glendale), the bill expands upon recent steps taken by the state to require school employees to receive training on how to detect and report suspected child abuse, Baker noted.
“AB 1058 improves upon this by focusing on how we can better prevent child abuse so there is nothing to be reported,” she added in her statement.
Specifically, the bill requires the Department of Education to create best practices for school personnel to prevent abuse, including sexual abuse, of children on school grounds, by school personnel, or in school-sponsored programs. The department would also need to post links to existing training resources on its website.
The legislation also encourages all public schools to train employees on child abuse prevention at least once every three years.
AB 1058 received support from the California Catholic Conference and The Child Abuse Prevention Center, Baker said.
I seriously doubt that AB 1058 will be of any value and protect children or vulnerable from sexual predators.
Governor Brown is a former Jesuit seminarian and often sides with Catholic leadership.
While it appears that this is serious legislation, Catholic leadership can rest assured that they will be protected, even if they are responsible for abusive sexual predator priests/nuns in CA.
May God protect all children and vulnerable adults.
Cholo, maybe nothing will come of this new law but we’re continuing to move in the right direction. Without telling my age I can still remember when there were no laws against child porn, in fact, no one even knew what that was. Sexual exploitation of children was never discussed or thought about by most people.
There has always been, and always will be, sexual exploitation of children and vulnerable adults, but at least we as a society have become much more aware of the problem and the damage it causes.
PROTECTING children/vulnerable adults so that they thrive is OK by me. However, I’m disappointed in Gov. Jere Brown.
Dennis Hastert: http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/dennis-hastert-intends-plead-guilty/story?id=34493828
He will most likely get off lightly but his dirty secret is no longer a dirty little secret. The world knows.
VIVA YOUNG PEOPLE! VIVA!
I am just so glad we are lucky enough to have Catharine Baker representing us in the Assembly. She takes her position very seriously. I think this is her 5th or 6th bill Gov Brown has signed. Her Mother was a teacher, and her own children are in tri-valley schools. We are lucky she puts children first…for real. She doesn’t just ‘talk’ about protecting children.