Safety Information and Policies

Our policies, regulations, and safeguards are annually reviewed and updated. They have also been benchmarked against and rise above the standards set by the National Association of Independent Schools.

Information and Resources for Parents

Safety is woven into our schools and programs. Within our curriculum content is developed specifically for a particular age range. We also regularly review and update our school handbooks and expect all members of our community to follow our guidelines and expectations.

Safety Curriculum PS-12th Grade

Preschool-2nd Grade: Teachers using the book The Right Touch, by Sandy Kleven as a teaching tool in the fall. Parents and guardians are notified via email.

3rd-5th Grade: The video “Consent for Kids” is shown in the fall to encourage dialogue and questions. Parents and guardians are notified via email.

6th-8th Grade: The Middle School health class provides in-class training. In the 6th grade, students are taught “protect yourself rules,” which are based on information from fightchildabuse.org. In the 7th grade, stuents learn what constitutes sexual harassment and abuse, and cultivating healthy relationships. In the 8th grade, the focus on inclusion and LGBTQ+ topics and issues. Parents and guardians are notified via email.

9th-12th Grade: Students in 9th and 10th grade take Health, a semester-long course, which includes extensive instruction on consent and healthy relationships, as well as information on overall mental health, addictions, human psychology, and well-being. A guest speaker talks about Title IX on college campuses during the senior seminar class.

Catlin Gabel Family Handbook

Requirements for Parent/Guardian Volunteers

All parents and guardians who volunteer in classes or programs are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, take an online safety training program through Vector Solutions (formerly known as SafeSchools), and complete an Oregon state Police background check. Any volunteer that will run a class or go on an overnight experience, must also be fingerprinted to pass the Oregon Department of Education background check. Current families can access further details in the parent/guardian portal (page screenshot).

Policies for Catlin Gabel Employees

Adults affiliated in any way with Catlin Gabel are required to maintain appropriate adult-student relationships at all times, both on and off campus. The school prohibits and will not tolerate child abuse, sexual misconduct, sexual harassment, or boundary violations. We will investigate (or refer to local law enforcement to investigate) any reports brought to our attention.

Catlin Gabel employees must immediately report any concerns about adult-student boundary violations, sexual harassment, sexual miscondut, or child abuse to the Head of School, Assistant Head of School, or Director of Human Resources. If the conduct rises to the level of child abuse, the employee is also required to report to Child Protective Services, known as DHS.

All full-time faculty and staff are required to attend an annual, in-person training session, as well as complete online training sessions related to understanding and reporting sexual misconduct.

More information is available in our Adult-Student Standards of Behavior Guide.

Safety Communications

The school has regularly provided updates to the community since the announcement of an independent investigation into reports from alumni of sexual misconduct by former faculty in 2018.

See School Safety Communications