When a student tells you: the educator disclosure playbook

1 Phase 1 of 6 · Prepare

Prepare

The first sentence you say matters most. Decide it before the day it happens.

• Know your district’s reporting policy and who your designated reporting contact is. Write the name and number on this page.
• Know that employees and volunteers of Nevada public and private schools are mandated reporters under NRS 432B.220. Your own district policy may add steps, so confirm with district counsel.
• Know where you can talk privately but visibly, such as a room with a window or an open door.
• Keep the hotline numbers handy: 911, NCMEC CyberTipline 1-800-843-5678, National Human Trafficking Hotline 1-888-373-7888, Childhelp 1-800-422-4453, 988.
• Practice the opening script out loud once.

2 Phase 2 of 6 · Spot it

Spot it and receive it

Disclosures are often partial, sideways or tested. Treat every one as real.

Students rarely say it plainly. They may ask ‘what if a friend…’, hand you a note, or say a little and watch your face. Your reaction decides whether they say more.

Say this

“Thank you for telling me. I’m glad you did.”

“This is not your fault.”

“I can’t promise to keep it a secret, because my job is to keep you safe. I will only tell the people who can help.”

3 Phase 3 of 6 · Contain

Contain

Keep the student safe now and keep the information in as few hands as possible.

1. Do not leave the student alone if they are distressed. Stay with them or hand them to a counselor in person.
2. Tell the student what happens next, in plain words, before you do it.
3. Report to an agency that provides child welfare services or to a law enforcement agency, as soon as reasonably practicable and not later than 24 hours after you know or have reasonable cause to believe a child has been abused or neglected (NRS 432B.220). Follow your district’s internal reporting steps too, but they do not replace your own duty. Good-faith reporters are protected from civil and criminal liability (NRS 432B.160).
4. If the home may be unsafe, or the suspected person is a parent, relative or someone in the home, do not contact the family. Let child welfare or law enforcement decide.
5. Share on a need-to-know basis only: the designated contact, the counselor, and the investigators. Not the staff room, not other students.

4 Phase 4 of 6 · Clean up

Clean up: document and hand off

Write down what was said while it is fresh, then let trained people take over.

• Write the student’s words as they said them, in quotation marks. Do not paraphrase or add your own opinion.
• Record the date, time, place, who else was present, and what you said and did.
• Note any visible facts (such as the student’s demeanor), without guessing at causes.
• Keep your notes private and secure. Give them only to the people you reported to.
• Do not copy, forward or screenshot any intimate image. If a device holds one, follow the image-incident playbook.
• If the student is being sextorted, point the family to the NCMEC CyberTipline and Take It Down (takeitdown.ncmec.org). If trafficking is suspected, the National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1-888-373-7888.

5 Phase 5 of 6 · Recover

Recover

A disclosure is a moment of trust. How the school responds afterward is what the student remembers.

6 Phase 6 of 6 · Learn

Learn

Within two weeks, hold a short, blameless debrief with the people involved.

1. Ask: what helped the student tell us? What slowed us down?
2. Check that the report timing and handoffs matched the district policy.
3. Fix one thing: a missing contact, an unclear form, a room that was not private.
4. Write down the change and who owns it.