Fort Leonard Wood is taking Sexual Harassment/Assault Response training to the high school.

A Maneuver Support Center of Excellence Resiliency team spoke to Waynesville High School's faculty on Friday, made possible by an ongoing U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command initiative.

The initiative allows the post to be part of the solution to change the culture of sexual harassment and sexual assault in our society, according to Sgt. Maj. Kimberly McGhaney-Reed, MSCoE SHARP program manager, whose team presented SHARP information to 90 faculty members.

"The MSCoE Resiliency team developed a partnering plan for our community and mapped out a plan for both the local high schools and the Reserve Officer Training Corps universities within a 250-mile radius of the installation to coordinate partnerships," McGhaney-Reed said.

Initial contact was made with two universities, through their professors of military science liaison, and with Waynesville High School, through Principal Courtney Long.

Long was receptive to the idea and invited the team to talk to her staff. A similar presentation is scheduled for the school's sophomores, juniors and seniors this spring.

"This is needed to show them not only the importance (of sexual harassment policies) and give them a little bit more education about it, but also so they are better informed about what it is and what it isn't -- what can get them in trouble even if they're not meaning it in that way," Long said. "It's also important to show them this isn't a high school or a teenage issue. It's a world issue."

"It is important to teach both the children and the faculty, because both generations need to be unified in understanding awareness in order to overcome this phenomena," McGhaney-Reed said. "If the students know what's right, but the teachers don't, then who will support the students properly when an incident occurs? Who will assist in prevention or intervention as the students fight this at their level?"

She added, "Just as in the Army, the Soldiers and the leaders must be educated about SHARP, so too must the students and the faculty be educated in sexual harassment and sexual assault awareness in order to succeed."

McGhaney-Reed said that after establishing rapport with the initial schools, they will proceed to establish contact with other educational institutions within the Fort Leonard Wood community.

This outreach concept was originated by the commanding general of Cadet Command who decided to start with future officers currently in ROTC at various universities in order to help prevent SHARP offenses.

TRADOC has since charged all subordinate commands to partner with ROTC universities and to do community outreach to further assist the Army with prevention.

"The military understands that there needs to be a culture change," McGhaney-Reed said. "Because Fort Leonard Wood is part of the surrounding community, we need to work together to make the community a better place to live, work and mitigate future incidents."