"To be honest it's frustrating..." Erin's law at a standstill in Ohio Senate - Dayton 24/7 Now
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, Ohio (WKEF) --- A bipartisan bill aimed at protecting children from sexual abuse remains held up in the senate months after it got there. “To be honest it's frustrating because this could be in the school systems so fast and there could be children coming forward, about abuse,” said Siara Akers, an advocate for the bill.
Akers has been fighting for Erin's law. She's been at the state house multiple times to testify along with others, “We thought it was gonna pass very quickly. There was so many survivors there that gave testimonies. It really felt like we were going to move forward quickly and now we've been stalled ever since.”
The push to pass Erin's law grew louder in 2019, when a former first grade Springboro gym teacher was accused of sexually abusing at least 80 girls in his class, “These girls, some of them knew, they knew and they were not comfortable enough to come forward,” said Akers.
“We know that this would provide kids with the knowledge that they need to identify inappropriate behavior,” said Representative Brigid Kelly.
Erin’s law would provide child sexual abuse education in schools, and it's been introduced 5 times.
It passed the Ohio house last general assembly and this one, but it remains at a standstill in the in the Primary and Secondary Education Senate Committee. Representative Scott Lipps and Kelly are the co-sponsors, “We would certainly hope that the leaders in the Senate would continue considering this bill and voted out because for something like this to happen to one kid is too many,” said Kelly.
I reached out to all of senators in that committee to ask what's the holdup, but I didn't hear back.
The Ohio Education Association (OEA) supports it and finds it puzzling that this bill hasn't passed
and while OEA supports it the president said they have one concern, “Ohio still has no comprehensive health education standards, we would really like to see this issue addressed in the larger context of making sure k 12 that we're addressing the entirety of the health education.”
But overall supporters believe this bill will teach and give students the courage to come forward before it's too late, “A lot of times they end up committing suicide later in life so so this can not only prevent trauma, it can save somebody's life down the road,” said Akers.
Lawmakers said the curriculum will be available for parental review., this is a provision that was included when the bill went through the house. Erin's law has passed in 37 other states.
source: https://dayton247now.com/news/local/to-be-honest-its-frustrating-erins-law-at-a-standstill-in-ohio-senate
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