KANSAS CITY, Mo. — As a result of a KSHB 41 I-Team investigation, a Kansas lawmaker has proposed legislation she says will better protect kids in the Sunflower State.
In November, ourI-Team revealed that the governing bodies that oversee high school activities in both Kansas (the Kansas State High School Activities Association) and Missouri (the Missouri State High School Activities Association) are not mandatory reporters.
That means, should a coach or activities director cross a line with a child and their parent contacts either KSHSAA or MSHSAA, they're not required to turn those allegations over to police.
State Representative Kristey Williams, who proposed House Bill 2511, explained to a House Committee earlier this week why she feels that could be problematic.
"So, if a family member, a parent, did not feel comfortable calling their own school district, their own athletic director, their own coach about an incident with an athlete and a coach, for example, they could call KSHSAA, who oversees that particular entity, which is the athletic program at that school," Rep. Williams shared with fellow lawmakers.
Her proposal would require KSHSAA staff members to be mandatory reporters.
"It’s just another protective layer for students if there is any possible situation of abuse or neglect or harm, parents and others have another reporting outlet, and that would be officials at KSHSAA. I just want to make sure that there is another place outside of the local school district that a parent can go and report an incident," she said in an interview with KSHB 41 last week.
Bill Falflick, KSHSAA's executive director, said while most of their staff are educators, and are therefore already legally obligated to be mandatory reporters, overall KSHSAA is not opposed to making this change.
However, he did ask lawmakers to make one change to the bill.
"I would only ask if you consider that component of this — that you remove or restrict that to just our administrative team so that we can be congruent with the practice that is evident in our member schools where administrators, the teachers, the coaches, those that are licensed for those that are approved work in that capacity would be those mandatory reporters," Falflick said.
This issue is wrapped into a bill that would also allow home school students to participate in public school sports and activities.
Rep. Williams believes her proposal will ultimately be combined into a larger education bill.
As KSHB 41 reported in December,on the Missouri side, state Representative Doug Richey also proposed a bill requiring MSHSAA staff to be mandatory reporters, an act he said was inspired following our I-Team investigation.
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