Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024 | 2 a.m.
Nevada lawmakers have preliminarily introduced a bill to ban teachers from “grooming” students.
Senate Bill 59, one of the earliest bills to be prefiled in advance of the legislative session beginning in February, has two components: the possibility of an accused teacher’s license being put on an administrative hold and the introduction of statutory definitions of “grooming” and “sexual impropriety.”
The bill is sponsored by the Senate Committee on Education on behalf of the Department of Education.
If passed as written, the proposal would allow the state to place a hold on teachers’ licenses without a hearing if they’re arrested for, charged with or suspended for sexual impropriety with students.
A hold doesn’t necessarily mean the educator loses their job, but it does prevent them from taking a job in a new public school while the hold is in place.
Administrative holds expire after one year if not removed by the State Board of Education or elevated to a license suspension or revocation.
The proposed definition of grooming covers:
• engaging in “a pattern of flirtatious behavior”
• trying to get “unreasonable access to,” or time alone with a student “for no reasonable educational purpose”
• engaging in behavior that “can be reasonably construed as involving inappropriate personal or intimate relationships, conduct toward or focus on a pupil”
• giving individualized and special treatment “that is not in compliance with generally accepted educational practices.”
The definition of “sexual impropriety” is lengthier and more explicitly enumerates sexual, physically intimate or romantic contact and relationships. It also details verbal conduct such as discussion of personal romantic or sexual feelings or activities, telling sexual jokes or stories, and using sexual innuendo.
It also has qualified conduct:
• referencing the physical appearance or clothing of a student in a way that could be “reasonably interpreted as sexual” unless addressing violations of a dress code.
• making any physical contact with a student that the student has previously indicated is unwelcome unless it is required to protect their safety
• discussing the romantic or sexual feelings of a student except in the context of “providing professional teaching or counseling services”
• sharing pornographic or sexually explicit materials that “lack serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.”
The ban on grooming and sexual impropriety also would apply to a student who is enrolled or has been within the past year, or an educator who is employed or has been within the prior year. Consent by a student to improper conduct “is not a defense” in any proceeding, the bill says.
The bill also proposes eliminating a loophole that allows the state to issue a provisional license to an otherwise-qualified teacher if federal and state criminal background checks are pending.
“Grooming” is an established term used to describe how predators get close to their victims. A recent article in the academic journal Behavioral Sciences & the Law defines it as “the largely nonviolent psychological manipulation acts used to seduce children into more violent and overt forms of abuse.”
The Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network defines it as “manipulative behaviors that the abuser uses to gain access to a potential victim, coerce them to agree to the abuse, and reduce the risk of being caught.”
The term is also used in far-right rhetoric to accuse queer people and their allies of being or enabling pedophiles, even though research shows that queer people do not sexually abuse children at a higher rate than the general population.
The word “grooming” is not in the 2022 Florida legislation commonly referred to by critics as the “Don’t Say Gay” law, so-called because of its restrictions on classroom discussion or instruction about sexual orientation or gender identity in K-12 public schools. But Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ spokeswoman posted on what was then known as Twitter that the bill “that liberals inaccurately call ‘Don’t Say Gay’ would be more accurately described as an Anti-Grooming Bill.”
Locally, when the CCSD school board was considering appointing a queer-friendly counselor who is a gay man last year to the sex education advisory board, a mother said she didn’t “want that person around our children. It’s grooming, and it’s wrong.” School board members rebuked her and appointed the counselor.
SB 59 does not single out sexual orientation or gender identity.
Other prefiled bills
Here are some others prefiled bills related to education for the 2025 legislative session:
Senate Bill 58: This bill expands eligibility for state-funded preschool.
The Nevada Department of Education covers prekindergarten for children from low- and moderate-income families under the Nevada Ready! State Pre-K program at a school district, charter school or nonprofit organization.
If passed, SB 58 would increase the maximum household income level for qualifying children from 200% to 250% of the federal poverty level. It would also open the state funding to children with special needs — whether documented with an individualized education plan or a “documented need for behavioral, social or emotional supports” — regardless of family income.
The bill comes from the Nevada Department of Education via the Senate Committee on Finance.
Assembly Bill 47: This bill, proposed by the Clark County School District by way of the Assembly Committee on Ways and Means, directs excess money in the state education rainy day fund back to school districts to be spent on recruitment, retention and professional development of teachers and other staff.
Under state law, the balance of the Education Stabilization Account — also known as the rainy day fund — must not exceed 20% of all appropriations and authorizations from the broad State Educational Fund.
Currently, anything over 20% goes back to the State Educational Fund.
Under this bill, the excess would be divided up proportionally to each school district to address staffing.
Assembly Bill 53: This mandates recess for elementary students and allows credit for secondary students if they participate in outdoor recreation outside of school.
The bill, introduced on behalf of Lt. Gov. Stavros Anthony through the Assembly Committee on Education, says that every elementary school must have at least 20 minutes of outdoor recess per day.
It adds that recess cannot be withheld for behavioral or academic reasons unless an academic goal or safety or welfare cannot be reasonably achieved by other means.
It also requires that indoor activities be substituted if weather or other conditions make outdoor recess inappropriate. For students in middle or high school, schools may grant elective credit for certain outdoor pursuits outside of school hours.
According to the bill, these activities can include identifying native plants and animals, building trails, restoring natural habitats, learning outdoor survival skills, birdwatching, hiking or other sportsmanship activities like archery.
Senate Bill 81: This bill, from the Nevada Department of Education through the Senate Committee on Education, collects several education-related proposals in a kind of mini-omnibus bill.
One of them is to mandate public schools to collect ongoing exit surveys of departing staff and semiannual surveys on school climate and working conditions.
If the legislation is passed into law, the Nevada Department of Education would give employee surveys on school climate in odd-numbered years and working conditions in even-numbered years.
Exit surveys would be on an ongoing basis to staff leaving their school for any reason, including retirement and transfer. The survey results would be intended to be used to assess and improve climate, conditions and staff retention.
“School climate” means relationships between students, parents and staff, cultural and linguistic competence of staff and instructional materials, and emotional and physical safety and social, emotional and academic development of students and staff.
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