
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, June 17, 1993                   TAG: 9306170293
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: LAURA WILLIAMSON STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Short

FAST ABUSE REPORTING URGED

Beginning in July, state law will allow teachers to wait 72 hours - three days - before alerting child welfare agencies of children they believe to have been abused.

But not in Roanoke. Not if School Board member Wendy O'Neil can help it.

"I'm hoping that our School Board will agree that 72 hours is too long," she said. "In 72 hours, a child can be dead."

O'Neil said she will propose that the board institute its own policy - despite the changes to state law - requiring "immediate" reporting of suspected child abuse to Child Protective Services. That's how the law now stands.

But she will also ask that the board clarify what it means by "immediately," a term not defined under state law and one which has caused recent confusion:

"I truly hope that our School Board will review the policy and that there will be a unanimous decision to review the policy and to make crystal clear what our expectations are."

She has the support of at least one member.

"It's not fair for a child to be sent back into an abusive situation for three days," Nelson Harris said. "Whether it be a principal or a minister, there's a moral and ethical obligation to report to the authorities at the quickest possible opportunity."

by CNB