From Bullying to Sexual Violence

We, the authors, wrote From Bullying to Sexual Violence: Protecting Students and Schools Through Compliance because we are passionate about kids and schools. We care about student safety and wellbeing. We also care about schools and their ability to provide the best possible environment given their resources, as well as their limitations. And, we don’t want schools to spend time and money with their lawyers. Our ultimate goal is to see schools take real steps to eliminate bullying, prevent suicide and reduce incidents of sexual violence. Schools have students who are misunderstood. Schools have kids that are at risk, and schools have students who will victimize other students. Know that for a very long time, Title IX was not about this. It was basically about girls’ and women’s sports. That all changed on April 29, 2014. On that date, President Obama held a press conference where he signed an Executive Order expanding Title IX and started the ball rolling that holds every school district superintendent, every community college president and every university chancellor accountable to reduce and ultimately eliminate sexual harassment, sexual violence and sexual battery in their setting… … Title IX holds the school administrator accountable to prevent sexual violence against students from occurring. Once the administrator has completed the prevention aspects of Title IX, the school’s legal liability is limited. Just like Title VII, we find that under Title IX, if the school takes the necessary and required prevention steps, they will be protected in civil litigation and from consequences from OCR (Office of Civil Rights within the Department of Education). But, if they don’t take the required prevention steps, they will be easy to beat in a legal contest…When—not if—sexual harassment or sexual violence does occur, then the administrator now has new liability. He /she is now obligated to take steps to see that the perpetrator does not continue to discriminate against the victim and to see that the necessary steps are taken to ensure that the discrimination is not repeated and others are not victimized. This applies to other forms of harassment as well… … The goals to eliminate bullying, prevent suicide and eliminate sexual violence appear laudable, correct? These goals seem like they should be fundamental to the process of education, right? Clearly, they should be. Sadly, however, many school administrators are unaware of their obligations under Title IX. At this time, fewer than 1% of all schools nationwide are compliant with Title IX regulations. Our purpose is to let the school administrator, the school board member, the parents of students and anyone else who is interested know the obligations of Title IX and the state laws prohibiting an under-reaction to these forms of discrimination. The first section of the book provides an overview of the laws and rules, some background information and a Title IX readiness test. In section two, you will find three detailed hypothetical examples of Title IX violations, designed to illustrate the correct process to address the investigative process, as well as the discrimination. The following three cases, also hypothetical, show where schools failed to address the discrimination correctly and the consequences. All six cases focus on process and analysis. The third section of the book consists of summaries of actual cases where schools were found not to be in compliance and the resolution agreements that resulted. Finally, we close with the exact language OCR requires of schools to adopt 19 different definitions, policies, procedures and protocols. You can take these 19 elements and put your school district’s name on them, formally adopt them and have a solid start toward compliance and protection for students and school districts. In addition, you will find other forms and information you are free to use, as well as a journal article we think would be helpful. Inform yourself and protect your students and your school by complying with Title IX. As experts in Title IX with extensive backgrounds in law, educational psychology and management, we are here to help… Cases of Noncompliance from the Office of Civil Rights …So far, we have given you hypothetical cases in order to illustrate aspects of compliance from investigation to conclusion as a way to provide suggestions for various situations. Now it’s time for real-world cases, and in the real world, compliance is significantly more complicated. In fact, it becomes an extended regimen of requirements, documentation, training, policy and procedure issues, expenses and more. We are hoping that a review of resolution agreements signed off on by school officials after OCR has found their district to be in violation of Title IX compliance requirements will give you a different look at the compliance issue. Once OCR determines that a school has violated Title IX, what the school must do to satisfy OCR can be, and often is, extensive. Protection of students is taken very seriously by OCR and by you—we know that. We also believe, however, that protection for schools and staff is often less than it could be due to lack of compliance. Well-intentioned efforts, policies and procedures to protect students don’t replace meeting the specific OCR requirements. To that end, summaries of cases where schools were found not to be in compliance and the related resolution agreements follow to give you an idea of the “new normal” of compliance. Each of the schools could have avoided a long, extensive and costly problem had school officials put in the time and effort to make certain that their school’s Title IX policies, protocols and procedures were up to date and in compliance with OCR Title IX regulations. And once the policies, protocols, and procedures were made compliant, made certain that all staff, faithfully and without fail, followed those updated directives. Schools have a choice: comply and protect or don’t comply and suffer the consequences. Based on our experience in the field, we are not just suggesting you take the first one; we are warning you against choosing the second.