Failure To Comply May Result In Loss Of Federal Funding, Administrative Action, Or Litigation
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Kirsten Bokenkamp, Communications Coordinator, ACLU of Texas, (713) 942-8146 x 109 or (832) 691-7013; [email protected]
HOUSTON -- The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas this week sent letters to the state’s more than 1,000 school districts reminding them that federal law requires protection of students from sexual harassment or violence.
According to the Texas School Safety Center, sexual harassment and abuse happen every day in Texas schools, and four out of five students report having experienced sexual harassment at some point during their school careers. More than sixty percent of all victims of sexual assault are under the age of 18. The effects of sexual violence can impact victims’ behavior, safety, and school performance.
The ACLU Women’s Rights Project and the ACLU of Texas recently filed a complaint (click here) with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights on behalf of a student who was raped at school. When the student reported that she had been sexually assaulted by another student, school officials first failed to respond at all, telling her to “work it out” with the perpetrator. School officials ultimately disciplined the student by sending her to an off-campus alternative school, along with the student she identified as her attacker.
“I thought school was the safest place to be. It turned out that I was never more wrong in my life,” said the victim who we will call Faith (not her real name). “After I was raped, the school charged me with sexual misconduct and sent me to a disciplinary school where I had to not only face him, but the bullying of others because he bragged about it.”
The civil rights complaint filed on Faith’s behalf calls for a Department of Education investigation of the school’s response to the assault and training for school personnel to deal with allegations of sexual violence and harassment.
“Students go to school to learn --not to be assaulted, or to be ignored and punished when they seek help from school officials whose job is to protect them,” said Lisa Graybill, Legal Director for the ACLU of Texas. “All students have the right to feel safe in school. Through this proactive approach, we ask Texas superintendents to take a close look at their policies to ensure that what happened to Faith will not happen to other students.”
The ACLU of Texas letter to public school superintendents (click here) encouraged all Texas schools to review their compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
