June 13, 2025

Updated Mandated Reporter Training for All School Employees Available
 

This email is to notify you that the Department of Public Instruction (DPI) has released an updated version of the Mandated Reporting of Child Abuse and Neglect Training for All School Employees.

The updated training is shorter, more focused, and includes additional examples. It also provides a clearer definition of the term “reasonable cause”. In addition, a new Administrator Implementation Guide has been developed.

It is important to understand there has been a shift in training guidance around reporting voluntary teenage sexual activity. With many stakeholders involved in the review of content, it was discovered that an inconsistency exists in current statutes. Through discussion with the Wisconsin Departments of Justice, Children and Families, and Public Instruction, the following language has been incorporated into the training script:

The mandatory reporting law does not require a report for voluntary sexual contact or intercourse between youth ages 15 through 18. That said, acts of exposing “genitals, pubic area, or intimate parts” to a child or causing them to expose themselves for the purpose of gratifying oneself or sexual humiliation does require a report, regardless of age or consent. So, if exposure of intimate parts occurs and a youth under age 18 is involved, then the activity must be reported as child sexual abuse (Wis. Stat. sec. 948.10.).

The purpose of this training is to state what the law says to equip school employees with information about the mandatory reporting law. Staff should follow their local reporting policies.

As such, the document Reporting Requirements for Situations Involving Sexual Contact or Intercourse and Students: Suggested Procedures for School Employees will be removed from the DPI's website.

We encourage you to contact your local Child Protective Services and law enforcement partners to determine local reporting policies.

Please note that staff who have completed DPI-provided mandated reporter training within the last 5 years are not required by statute to retake the training. For more information, refer to Wis. Stat. sec. 118.07(5).