Students In Denver Public Schools Working With Administrators To Eradicate 'Rape Culture'

DENVER (CBS4)- Some high schoolers in Denver Public Schools are starting to make progress in their campaign for drastic changes to the sex education curriculum. This, after they claim to have been sexually assaulted by fellow students, some even during school hours on school campus.

Following meetings with students concerned about a rape culture in the school system, Thomas Jefferson High School Principal Mike Christoff has implemented several changes.

"For us, it's addressing what are the concerns from the kids, listening to them, listening to their conversations, educating them on what consent is, and moving forward," Christoff said.

Despite challenges of the pandemic, Christoff has added voluntary lectures to the students' advisement classes, which are daily 30 minute virtual social/emotional learning classes. Some guest lecturers so far have been experts from the Denver District Attorney's Office and Denver Health, as well as a school social worker.

Christoff also says the school has partnered with a student group from the University of Denver to create a female empowerment group called Project Like A Girl.

This week, the school news broadcast also made an announcement about a youth leadership project called Let's Get Real.

"The goal for Let's Get Real is to support youth leaders who will in turn promote healthy relationships and a culture of consent. These leaders will determine project activities which can involve designing social media campaigns, writing letters to editors, and testifying at the capitol on any legislation affecting youth and the issues related to abuse and violence," the announcement reads.

The push for change has been therapeutic for some students, like Fania Swadener, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School, who met with Christoff in September about making the changes.

"By working on this movement, and by helping and talking to other girls who have been through so many of these experiences, I feel way, way, way safer about my story and my mindset," said Swadener.

She says she was sexually assaulted by a popular boy in school in March 2019. She says the boy forced himself on her underneath a staircase on campus during school hours.

"It was like I had to say no, until I had to say yes," said Swadener.

She said just two hours after it happened, she reported the assault to school administrators. She says a school resource officer interviewed her without first calling her parents.

"Once I was talking to the school about it, I ultimately said,' I don't want to report, I don't want to go any further with this,' because the reactions of the administration and even the other kids that I had told about it were already negative, were already questioning my experience," Swadener said. "It was just immediately being questioned, being asked what I thought of it as, and you know, I was crying, I was in shock."

She says nothing happened to the boy.

"I had two classes with this person, every single day, I think I failed out of both of them," Swadener said. "It was a complete violation of my rights, my privacy, my permission, and I think for me, it took a very long time to even feel comfortable going to school."

School administrators were unable to comment about the allegations due to privacy laws, but said they follow strict policies to report allegations to police and provide support measures for students.

"There's a process that we have to follow, and so all of those things are documented, and we have to work with Denver police," Christoff said.

Asked if sexual assaults on campus were common, Christoff said, "I'd say no, it's not a common thing that we deal with, allegations are made, it happens, unfortunately it does happen in high school."

Since then, Fania has been sharing her experience with other high schoolers in DPS, learning she's not alone.

This summer, dozens of allegations spread across social media about several sex assaults of East High School students by several classmates. Those allegations prompted more than 100 students to protest in front of the school, calling for better sex and consent education training, and for the boys who are accused to be banned from school activities until an investigation is complete.

"I think that's so frightening, that coming in as a freshman, you're taught consent, but you're taught it in a way that you're able to laugh at it, and I don't think consent should be laughed at. It's something that shouldn't be overwhelming, it should just be a clear and simple yes," said East High School sophomore Lillian Jordan, who also serves on student council.

Also speaking at those protests was DSST Byers senior Valerie Boutwell. She says she too was sexually assaulted by a classmate, who allegedly raped several other girls in her class.

"For us, the policies at our school that had been put in place around that were helping the perpetrator more than they were helping the survivor, and so we all felt like we were being attacked and we were being blamed rather than the school was trying to help us," Boutwell said.

She said there are no counselors at her school for survivors to turn to.

"We could go to our deans or we could go to our college counselors, and for survivors, that's often times really scary, because you don't want to be telling the person who is going to be writing your letter of recommendation for college about this experience you had, because they might have a bias," Boutwell said.

DSST Byers Director Elin Curry says the school has been working to provide better resources to students.

"One of the ways we've committed to that over the last five years is to reallocate some of our funding towards a bigger mental health team, and we do have a larger mental health team on our campus than most other schools in DPS, so we've got three full-time social workers that work with us to address student needs, and also a team that's working really hard to make sure we have pipelines outside of school resources for students who do need ongoing counseling and support," Curry said.

While there have been some positive steps, Boutwell, Swadener, and Jordan feel that more could be done. They would like the school system to implement mandatory consent education classes all four years of high school.

"We can't just say that okay, now that something's happened now it's over, because there's still a lot of problems, there's still a lot of things that DPS, administration, and teachers don't know how to address," Swadener said.

Denver Public Schools sent a written statement that reads:

"We understand the importance of creating a culture of consent and helping to prevent sexual misconduct. We know that this is a big concern to many of our students. We hear them, and we agree. DPS has developed comprehensive curriculum on health education that includes education on consent. Currently, schools are not required to offer health, and each school determines the classes they offer outside required classes. We know that many of our schools are doing amazing work in this space. We are working on strategies to include comprehensive health educational programs across K-12 grades in all schools so that all students receive the knowledge and skills they need to make healthy decisions.

As educators, one of our goals is to nurture the whole student. All of our students deserve to feel safe and secure in their bodies. When a student comes forward with a concern related to inappropriate sexual contact, either harassment or assault, we focus on identifying what actions and services are needed for each student. We also work with law enforcement to address any legal issues that may arise in specific cases of alleged misconduct. Additionally, we are engaged in ensuring that our educators are trained on sexual misconduct, consent, dating violence, and reporting obligations under Title IX. This includes assuring that everyone involved, including students accused of misconduct, will be treated fairly and receive due process."