Praesidium’s McKeen presents risk assessment overview at school board meeting

Published 7:30 pm Thursday, June 25, 2026

On the afternoon of June 25, Praesidium’s senior risk consultant Amber McKeen met virtually with the Mercer Island School District board and delivered a high-level overview of the firm’s findings and recommendations following allegations and confirmed cases of sexual assault/misconduct involving former Mercer Island High School staff members.

The school district formed a partnership with Praesidium — a nationwide abuse-prevention and intervention firm — earlier this year and McKeen said they have assembled a 38-page report based on 65 of the district’s policies, procedures, forms and student and parent handbooks. The report was still being finalized at press time.

Over a three-day period in April, Praesidium staffers arrived on the Island to hold group interviews with district employees, parents, middle school and high school students and members of the Student Safety and Well-Being Committee. They also visited all six district campuses and the Crest Learning Center to conduct environmental risk assessments.

The visit was a unique element that was essential in rounding out their findings, McKeen said.

At the risk assessment exit meeting, McKeen said they utilized the Praesidium equation to focus their audit on: policies, screening and selection, training, monitoring and supervision, internal feedback systems (collecting and using data on incident reports), consumer participation (parents, students and the community’s involvement in abuse prevention and maintaining appropriate boundaries), responding (incidents of abuse and policy or boundary violations) and administrative practices (featuring the safety committee and more).

All of these elements equal a safe environment, said McKeen, adding that the district should be proud of assembling the critical safety committee. She said the committee “can be integral to maintaining momentum and accountability as this process continues.”

Here’s a look inside some of the components of McKeen’s presentation:

While the district does have comprehensive policies related to boundary expectations, conflicts of interest and more in place, McKeen said there was some disconnect in terms of knowledge and enforcement of the policies. In the parent and student handbooks realm, a full harassment and intimidation and bullying (HIB) policy is included, but other policies are missing.

Praesidium recommends that the district expand its formal written policies to include: links and contact information to make mandated reports, revising some expectations for appropriate behaviors and more.

In the screening and selection section of the presentation, McKeen said that employees do complete initial background checks and fingerprinting. However, there’s no continuous monitoring or repeat screening.

“The process up front is definitely very stringent, but for staff members who are part of teachers unions, there’s not continuous monitoring or repeat screening and so that is something that poses a potential risk,” she said.

McKeen also recommends repeating criminal background checks every two years for all continuously employed staff.

When it comes to training, the district provides new staff orientation and mentors for new staffers along with making observations and holding staff evaluations. For volunteers and chaperones, Praesidium recommends providing training on policies, monitoring and supervision, behavioral expectations and boundaries.

McKeen also delved into the internal feedback systems area of the report, noting that the district has building leadership teams and a professional learning community in place that meet regularly to discuss behavioral issues and more.

Regarding the anonymous See Something Say Something app, McKeen suggested that the district re-publicize the app and perhaps have the safety committee student members mention it to their peers so they feel more comfortable using the reporting system.

Also in the internal feedback systems sphere, Praesidium encouraged the district to establish a process for involving its counseling team in HIB incidents. District Superintendent Dr. Fred Rundle said that process is in the works and emerged from the safety committee meetings.

McKeen also discussed that for those impacted by inappropriate behaviors, the district could develop a comprehensive survivor-focused response plan to include resources and more.

In closing, McKeen said, “I know that this is something that you all are taking very seriously and will integrate moving forward and I’m really excited to see where you go.”

“It’s been a great opportunity to work with them,” said Rundle, adding that the Praesidium and safety committee reports “will be used for us to prepare kind of a scoping sequence of improvement that we’ll bring to you in August to get your opinions on and that will drive our work into next year.”