Pleasanton Students Continue Push For Sexual Harassment Awareness

PLEASANTON, CA — A group of students at Foothill High School isn’t backing down in their quest to raise awareness about sexual harassment at the school.

They held a rally on May 27 in part to demand answers regarding posts on social media they say qualify as sexual harassment.

The posts include lists for rating female students on their physicality, senior Ella Piergrossi said.

But Piergrossi wants it to be clear that the social media posts aren't their only concern.

“The posts definitely spurred more action because they were so public and affected so many people," she said. "But there are a variety of incidents of sexual harassment all the time on campus and we are working to raise awareness about all of them.”

Patrick Gannon, Director of Communications with Pleasanton Unified School District, told Patch the district appreciates the group’s advocacy.

“This year, we have made updates to our board policy and administrative regulation that guides how we respond to reports of sexual harassment, provided training to our school site administrators, and have also (and continue to) worked to raise awareness of how to report sexual harassment on campus,” he told Patch.

Tension has been building for a long time, sophomore Jori Jakubowicz told Patch.

“There have been statements from a lot of students that have said that admin has not followed through on their case, hasn't taken action or punished the perpetrator, and other actions along those lines, Jakubowicz said. “We have met with admin to talk about what we want next year, but we all feel that there needs to be more awareness surrounding sexual harassment at Foothill because the system has not been beneficial for a long time, and because it continues to be a huge problem.”

Gannon says every report of sexual harassment is investigated.

"Investigations around sexual harassment are done confidentially to protect the privacy of the victim and the accused (we are legally obligated to do this),” he said. “As a school district, we are required to follow EdCode, which prohibits the sharing of student discipline information.”

In the meantime, the group of students continue their fight.

“PUSD must do more to cultivate a fair, safe learning environment,” sophomore Sareena Mann said. “More effort from administration is needed!”