Dear ALES Families,
Erin’s Law Presentations will begin on September 25. Erin’s Law requires schools to provide an age-appropriate sexual abuse awareness and prevention curriculum for pre-K-12th grade. These presentations will happen in their classrooms with their teacher and school support staff as well as the guest presenter. These lessons are designed to be engaging and developmentally appropriate for each grade level. These presentations will not exceed 30 minutes.
The Prevention Educator at the Community Crisis Center Is assisting our school in implementing this mandate at Algonquin Lakes Elementary School and neighboring schools in D300.The Prevention Educator has extensive training in presenting the material in an age appropriate, trauma-informed manner and in responding to any reactions that may arise from the students. The Community Crisis Center utilizes the Second Step Child Protection Unit and will be presenting in your child’s school 3 times during the school year. These presentations are developmentally appropriate, interactive, aligned with learning standards, and build upon the previous presentations. During these lessons, students will learn three types of skills:
● Personal Safety. Students will learn important safety rules such as safety with guns, sharp objects, fire, and when riding on a bike or in a car. Students will also learn ways to help them decide if something is safe or not.
● Touching Safety. Students will learn about safe, unsafe, and unwanted touches, and rules about touching private body parts. They’ll also learn to say no to unsafe/unwanted touches and how to tell an adult if someone breaks rules about touching private body parts.
● Assertiveness. These lessons will also give students a chance to practice asking an adult for help, telling an adult about an unsafe situation, and being assertive to get out of unsafe situations.
A specific rule your child will learn is The Touching Rule: a person should never touch your private body parts except to keep you clean and healthy. They will also learn the anatomically correct words for private body parts. The Touching Rule will help your child recognize sexually abusive touches so they can refuse and tell an adult about it. We do not use the words “sexual” or “abuse” in the presentations.
The Community Crisis Center’s goals for Elementary School Sexual Abuse Prevention Education are the following:
● Children know the difference between safe touches, unsafe touches, and unwanted touches.
● Children understand the difference between being aggressive and being assertive and will understand what to do when they need to be assertive.
● Children know who their trusted adults are, who their support system is, and how to ask them for help when in an abusive situation.
● Children will understand that no one is allowed to touch their private body parts unless it is to keep them healthy and clean such as a doctor, nurse, or parent.
Children can find it hard to tell adults about sexual abuse because they may not know the words to use. You can also help your child by teaching them the correct (anatomical) words for private body parts. This gives children the words to use and helps them know it’s okay to talk about those body parts with you. Start by using the correct words for private body parts along with words for other body parts such as “stomach” and “ears.”.
The Community Crisis Center’s Prevention Educator is not only a resource for our school, they are also a resource for you. If you have any questions or concerns, don’t hesitate to reach out via phone or email. We have outlined exactly what students will be taught during each session. Thank you for helping us make our school a safe and supportive place where everyone can learn!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Marilynn Jankovich (Smith), Principal,
Ms. Britt Kotecki, Social Worker, and Ms. Nikki Welch, Social Worker
Ruth Peterson DSV Prevention Educator
Community Crisis Center
(847) 742-4088 ext. 147
rpeterson@crisiscenter.org
