Federal investigations uncovered schools that failed to meet the most basic legal requirements — like having someone in charge of Title IX.
For months, her attacker’s friends tormented her. They called her a “crazy bitch” and a “porn star” on social media. One suggested that they show her “what rape actually is,” according to a lawsuit the Colorado student filed this year against her school district.
Rob Stein, the district’s superintendent, said he could not discuss the case due to federal privacy law. He said that Doe’s complaint offers her “side of the story,” and that “the school district always investigates incidents of sexual harassment or assault according to district policy and state law.” The lawsuit is pending.
The Georgia and the Michigan lawsuits are still pending; the Texas lawsuit was dismissed after a judge ruled that the school’s response had not subjected the student to additional abuse. “It’s just not a priority until an incident occurs and the school gets bad publicity,” said Joel Levin, co-founder of the advocacy group Stop Sexual Assault In Schools.
School leaders and attorneys representing schools and victims say part of the challenge is a lack of resources. And it’s a problem they expect to worsen with a looming recession threatening to cut budgets for public schools. Doe and her parents complained to multiple administrators, her lawsuit states, but the school didn’t enact a safety plan to stop the behavior, and her depression worsened.
“It feels like you’re stepping into a different decade,” said John Clune, Doe’s lawyer. “It seems like the K-through-12 schools are a number of years behind even understanding the issues.” But when it comes to K-12 schools, “They didn’t have one of those ‘Oh, no’ moments of realizing they’re on the hook,” said Daniel Swinton, vice president of the Association for Title IX Administrators, a professional trade group.
In many districts, the role of Title IX coordinator is assigned to another administrator, like the superintendent or the human resources director, who may not have time to ensure everyone in the district is trained in legal requirements for handling sexual misconduct cases. The department also said in February that as part of a Title IX initiative focused on K-12 schools, it plans to launch sweeping investigations of school districts, known as compliance reviews, to examine how these cases are handled. Department officials have not said how many or which schools will be investigated.
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