Terri Miller, President
As an advocate for the safe education of children, Ms. Miller has been a member of S.E.S.A.M.E. since 1996 and is currently President of the Board of Directors. Her responsibilities include providing support, resource materials and research to survivors, their families, professionals and media. She is the mother of four children, and considered herself a M.O.M. or Mamma On a Mission.
In 1983, Ms. Miller discovered that students were being exploited and sexually assaulted at the high school in the small rural community where she and her young family resided, 60 miles west of Las Vegas, NV. This intolerable state of affairs impelled Ms. Miller to eventually conduct her own investigation uncovering abuses of more than 60 students in one teacher's 20-year tenure. Joseph S. Peterson was consequently charged in 1994 with three counts of sexual assault, a class “A” felony. He pled to one count of Sexual Assault in 1996, and was sentenced to 5 years to life. He was paroled September 2012.
Ms. Miller successfully lobbied the Nevada legislature to pass the law that prohibits sexual conduct between certain employees of school and 16-17 year old pupils. The law became effective Oct. 1, 1997. In 2001, Ms. Miller and the Nevada Coalition Against Sexual Violence successfully worked together to amend the law to recognize offending school volunteers and to protect 14-15 year old students. Shortly thereafter, she took a staff position as Training Services Coordinator. It was in this capacity that she convinced her Director to address Educator Sexual Abuse at the coalition's second annual conference in 2003.
Ms. Miller has educated audiences across the country through numerous appearances on national talk shows, conference presentations and has contributed to countless articles. She has presented at NASDTEC PPI (2012) "Accountability: It's All About the Kids" and SWATA Conference (2012), the Voices in Action conference (July 1997), NOVA conference (1999), NASDTEC Professional Practices Institute (PPI)-Roundtable Discussion (2000), PPI-Educator Sexual Misconduct-Advocating for the Victim (2004), Educator Sexual Misconduct-Taking Action at Hofstra University (2004), NASDTEC Annual Conference (2005), and Nevada Public Health Foundation Conference (2005), among others. Some of her appearances media include The Montel Williams Show, John Walsh Show, Geraldo Rivera, and Good Morning America. Her story has been featured in Ladies Home Journal, Good Housekeeping, and on Lifetime.