Minnesota lawmakers heard testimony Tuesday on a new bill that aims to prevent grooming and abuse of children in school settings. 

In its current form, the bill suggests a series of changes to the state criminal code, teacher licensing requirements, mandatory reporter training and school field trip requirements, all aimed at preventing grooming. 

Hannah LoPresto, a former student at Eagan High School, testified in support of the bill. She cited her own experience with a band teacher who, according to an investigative police report, had a “pattern of predatory grooming behaviors … with numerous students” going back a decade in two school districts.

“Often, when I share that I was groomed and sexually assaulted, most people focus in on the sexual assaults as being the most horrific and impactful,” LoPresto told lawmakers on the House Education Policy Committee. “But for me, the five-plus years of grooming were even more harmful to my long-term health and well-being.”

LoPresto said she wanted to see lawmakers address “numerous gaps in our state laws that need to be strengthened to better protect K-12 students from sexual abuse.” 

She told MPR News she was glad to see the proposed bill address so many changes she felt were necessary. 

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle voiced support for the measure and gratitude to LoPresto for testifying.

If approved in its current form, the bill would update the state criminal code, adding grooming as a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison.

It would also make grooming an offense that triggers the automatic revocation of a teaching license in Minnesota. It would also require police to notify the state teacher licensing board when an educator is convicted of grooming or other crimes triggering the automatic revocation of teaching licenses.

The bill would prohibit school employees and volunteers from being alone with students during field trips, and it requires the Minnesota Department of Education to develop training for mandatory reporters. 

For LoPresto, changing the state criminal code and educating teachers on grooming is key to preventing abuse in schools.

“In the police investigation for my case, there were educators in the school who observed concerning patterns of behavior and didn’t report it. I do not believe these individuals had ill will. I believe they didn’t know what grooming was or how to identify the signs and that better training would have solved this,” LoPresto told lawmakers.

The bill also proposes allowing the Minnesota Department of Education to investigate allegations of student maltreatment older than three years. 

Eagan Police officer Chad Clausen, who investigated allegations of abuse by LoPresto’s former band teacher, spoke in support of expanding MDE’s ability to investigate allegations of student mistreatment.

“Delayed disclosure is common in child grooming and sexual abuse cases, and this was true with Hannah,” Clausen said. “Preventing investigations solely based on time protects offenders, not children. Removing the three-year limit restores the professional judgement to MDE investigators, allowing them to comprehensively investigate all student maltreatment.” 

Clausen also said he believed prohibiting school staff from being alone with children on school field trips would be beneficial to both students and staff.

“Isolation was a key factor in Hannah’s experience. Field trips, especially overnight trips, create predictable opportunities for one adult to be alone with one student,” he said. The bill, he added, “sets a clear expectation that no school employee, contractor or volunteer is alone with a student during a school-sanctioned trip.”

Lawmakers who spoke in the hearing Tuesday voiced unanimous support for the measures. Deb Corhouse, a lawyer from the state teachers union, said updating training for mandatory reporters was a measure commonly requested by teachers. 

Corhouse also said prohibitions on students being alone with teachers during field trips were good. But she said the law needed to account for exceptions such as students needing help with personal care or medications, students becoming separated or running away from the larger group and students needing privacy to make calls to parents. 

“We would suggest that the language be clear that there be exceptions for emergencies, student health and safety, confidentiality,” Corhouse said.

Rep. Peggy Bennett, R-Albert Lea, co-chair of the Education Policy Committee, said she wanted to address concerns about the bill and added that working on the bill and moving it forward was personal to her. 

“I will share too that I personally too, when I was in high school as a 10th grader, was groomed by my band director,” she said. “It’s something that still sticks with me today, so it is a really important issue.”