Our Kids Deserve Safe Schools — Not Silence

It’s back-to-school season — the time of year when school boards, principals, and politicians assure families that student safety is their “top priority.” But for too many survivors, these promises ring hollow.

Behind the posters and pep rallies, behind the staff training and glossy welcome packages, lies a quiet truth: schools have used non-disclosure agreements (NDAs) to hide abuse. They’ve signed settlements that bury allegations. They’ve prioritized institutional reputation over student protection. And they’ve done it for decades.

At The Restitution Project, we hear from survivors who were harmed in classrooms, gyms, dormitories, and campus offices — and then silenced. They weren’t just failed by a single teacher or coach. They were failed by a system that chose secrecy over safety.

What “Zero Tolerance” Really Means

When a student or employee reports abuse at school, the public message is swift and clear: “We take this seriously.” But what happens behind the scenes is often another story.

Many school boards and post-secondary institutions — from elementary schools to elite universities — turn immediately to internal legal teams and insurance-backed settlements. Survivors are offered compensation in exchange for silence. Families are told the case is “resolved.” Staff are told it’s “confidential.” And future students? They’re told nothing at all.

This is how known abusers stay in classrooms. It’s how patterns of misconduct stay hidden across decades. It’s how systemic harm continues, even as institutions insist they’re “learning from the past.”

NDAs Are Still Harming Students

Non-disclosure agreements were never designed to protect children. They were designed to protect institutions. In education, they’ve been used to:

• Silence survivors of teacher abuse

• Prevent students from sharing their stories publicly

• Shield administrators from scrutiny

• Bury findings of internal investigations

• Hide financial settlements from school communities
  

In some cases, NDAs have allowed the same perpetrator to move between schools undetected — because no one was ever warned.

This isn’t accountability. It’s complicity.

A Global Problem — and a Growing Movement

This is not just a Canadian problem. In the U.S., NDAs have been used in public and private school settlements for decades. A 2022 ProPublica investigation revealed that dozens of elite prep schools paid millions to survivors while refusing to name abusers.

In the U.K., the Independent Inquiry into Child Sexual Abuse (IICSA) found that NDAs were “routinely used” by schools and religious institutions — and explicitly recommended banning their use in cases of abuse.

Here in Canada, survivors are still fighting to pass Bill S-232, a federal bill that would prohibit the use of NDAs in cases of sexual misconduct, abuse, and harassment. Similar efforts are underway in Ontario and other provinces.

But progress is slow — and children can’t wait.

What Schools Must Do Now

It’s time to stop hiding behind “privacy” when what’s really at stake is protection. If schools want to live up to the trust families place in them, they must:

• Immediately stop using NDAs in cases involving abuse or harassment

• Audit past settlements and notify families if a known risk exists

• Involve survivors in the design of safety policies

• Support legislative reform that puts truth and transparency first
  

Students should not be returning to classrooms staffed by people with a history of misconduct. Parents should not be sending their children into buildings where the truth is under lock and key.

And survivors — whether they were harmed five months ago or fifty years ago — should never be forced into silence to get justice.

This September, Choose Safety Over Silence

Every child deserves to be safe at school. Every survivor deserves to speak freely. And every institution that claims to care about young people must prove it — not with slogans, but with truth.

Because safety isn’t just a promise. It’s a practice.

And it starts with listening, believing, and refusing to be silent.