District 47 To Offer Sex Abuse Awareness Program

A grant funded by the McHenry County Community Foundation (MCCF) will, for a second year in a row, make a sexual abuse awareness program available to all District 47 students during the 2017-18 school year. Created by “inner-tainer” Victor Pacini, the program is designed to help schools fulfill the Erin’s Law mandate, which requires all public schools to implement an annual age-appropriate sexual assault and abuse awareness and prevention curriculum for students in grades pre-K through 12, according to a District 47 news release.

Through a grant from the Foundation last year, Pacini delivered the Be Seen and Heard program in person to students across all grade levels. This year, District 47 adopted a “train the trainer” model, whereby Health, PE and STEM teachers will deliver an expanded Be Seen and Heard curriculum to students across all grade levels at various points during the school year, according to a news release.

The Be Seen and Heard curriculum is developmentally appropriate, interactive and aligned to learning standards. It consists of videos, books, and interactive discussions whereby students are taught courage, responsibility, persistence, awareness and resiliency.

“We are grateful to the Foundation for providing an opportunity to deliver this program as it addresses this important mandate and helps us continue to support the social-emotional needs of our students,” said Lori Parrish, Director of Professional Development and Grants. “Mr. Pacini has a gift for delivering valuable information on a sensitive topic for kids of all ages.”

Victor Pacini, a sexual abuse survivor, is an author, songwriter, singer, and motivational speaker who has presented to more than one million students and parents in numerous Illinois school districts and throughout the nation.

Photo caption: A sexual abuse awareness program was first available to all District 47 students last year. Photo credit: D47