COMMENTARY : SEXUAL HARASSMENT HURTS STUDENTS IN OUR SCHOOLS.

Byline: Sharon Hushka Special to the Daily News

Sexual harassment is a local as well as a national issue. It's a form of sex discrimination and is experienced by boys and girls at local campuses all across the United States.

Sex discrimination in public schools has been illegal since 1972.

To help Simi Valley residents better understand this issue, I've written an overview of the American Association of University Women's report ``Hostile Hallways: The AAUW Survey on Sexual Harassment in America's Schools,'' published in June 1993.

The report documented the results of a total of 1,632 field surveys completed by public school students in grades eight through 11, from 79 schools throughout the continental United States.

They found 85 percent of the girls and 76 percent of the boys had been the target of some form of sexual harassment at school.

The report showed 6 percent of these students responded that their first experience occurred before third grade. Although the heaviest incidence of sexual harassment occurred between sixth and ninth grades, 15 percent experienced their first encounter with sexual harassment between third and fifth grades.

In the report, sexual harassment included some of the following incidents:

Sexual comments, jokes, gestures or looks (76 percent of the girls and 56 percent of the boys had this experience).

Touching, grabbing or pinching in a sexual way (65 percent of the girls and 42 percent of the boys reported this experience).

Showing, giving or leaving sexual pictures, photographs, illustrations, messages or notes (31 percent of the girls and 34 percent of the boys).

Spreading sexual rumors (42 percent of the girls and 34 percent of the boys).

Accusations of being gay or lesbian (10 percent of the girls and 23 percent of the boys).

The ``Hostile Hallways'' report found the majority of sexual harassment incidents were between students (86 percent of the girls and 71 percent of the boys). Sexual harassment also occurred between school employees and students (25 percent for girls and 10 percent of the boys).

Although students responded that they had experienced sexual harassment, few students told school personnel about these incidents. Only 7 percent told a teacher, and 23 percent told no one. However, some students did tell their friends (77 percent of the girls and 49 percent of the boys).

Sexual harassment takes its toll educationally, emotionally and physically on a student. On an educational level, 33 percent of the girls and 12 percent of the boys said the sexual harassment incidents had influenced their not wanting to go to school. In addition, an average of 24 percent of the girls and boys wanted to stay home from school or to cut class, and 23 percent found they no longer wanted to talk in class as much.

The personal impact on the students who said they had been sexually harassed included embarrassment, self-consciousness, becoming less sure and less confident and becoming afraid. Behaviorally, these students sought to avoid the offender and the site of the offense, to change seats or to discontinue sports or other activities.

The survey findings document the existence of sexual harassment and its negative impact on meeting the educational, emotional and behavioral needs of students. Sex discrimination and sexual harassment policies, regulations and procedures need to be clearly communicated and consistently enforced at our schools.

MEMO: Sharon Hushka is the Public Policy chair of the Simi Valley branch of the AAUW.