A woman known for raising awareness of childhood sexual abuse is helping launch a new curriculum for Florida’s kindergartners. Gina Jordan reports Florida is now the first state to implement such a program.
“Do you think it’s ok to keep an unsafe secret is someone asks you to?”
“Noooooo!”
Lauren Book is reading to a kindergarten class in Tallahassee.
“Can you think of another kind of unsafe secret?”
It’s part of a new kindergarten curriculum called Safer, Smarter Kids.
Book is motivated by statistics that suggest 95 percent of sexual abuse is preventable with education.
I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, but at the core of who I am in my heart, I’m a kindergarten teacher. I started my career in the Miami Dade County Public Schools, and so I’m here today in both of those capacities.”
Her efforts helped convince the Florida Legislature to pass a bill allowing the creation of this kind of curriculum.
Book walked across the state each of the last three years to raise awareness about sex abuse.
She also created an organization called Lauren’s Kids. It provides educational tools and a 24-hour Crisis Hotline.