After suicide of non-binary teen, DOE finds multiple Title IX violations in Oklahoma school district

CNN
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After the suicide of a non-binary student Last February, sparking a months-long federal investigation, the U.S. Department of Education found Title IX violations in an Oklahoma public school district, including multiple failures to respond to reports of sexual harassment.

The DOE’s Office of Civil Rights announced a resolution Wednesday with the Owasso Public School District to resolve Title IX violations related to sexual harassment in district schools.

The investigation revealed a pattern of inconsistent district responses to sexual harassment complaints, sometimes being “deliberately indifferent to students’ civil rights.”

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protects people from discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs.

The The OCR investigation has started last March, weeks after the death of non-binary teen Nex Benedict. The 16-year-old died a day after a fight with other students in an Owasso High School bathroom.

Benedict, whose injuries from the fight sent them to the hospital, told officers and family members at the time that the other students had bullied them and their friends before the fight broke out: CNN reported this earlier.

A formal complaint submitted by the Human Rights Campaign over Benedict’s death led to the OCR investigation into whether the district “failed to appropriately respond to alleged harassment.”

At the insistence of LGBTQ+ advocatesPolice body camera footage of Benedict, in which he recounted the altercation with an officer at the hospital, was released in the weeks after their deaths, along with 911 calls and surveillance video of the incident.

The school district failed to take the steps required under Title IX after Benedict’s death, Wednesday’s report said, including failing to conduct a Title IX investigation into the bathroom fight because “no one in the district was aware that the fight or conduct leading up to the fight was potentially sexual harassment.”

“As a result, OCR found that the district’s pattern of inconsistent responses to reports it received of sexual harassment — rarely responding under Title IX or not responding at all — rose to the level where the district’s response to the sexual harassment reports of some families was intentional. indifferent to students’ civil rights,” reads a DOE press release.

School officials received 15 reports of harassment and bullying against Benedict, from community members and another student that could constitute sexual harassment in the two weeks following the Feb. 7 incident. Most reports said the teen was bullied because of their sex or gender, and one report described “a school environment and culture that promotes bullying and abuse, especially when it involves LGBTQ+ students,” according to the OCR report.

CNN reached out to a representative of Benedict’s family for comment on the report.

The investigation also uncovered several other instances over the past three years in which district staff failed to adequately respond to sexual harassment complaints.

In one case, the district did not respond to a report of a teacher grooming female students on social media “by, among other things, sending them more than 130 messages describing their physical appearance and asking for their photos.”

Another report said a young primary school student was “subjected to repeated intimidating comments described as sexual in nature.”

“After an investigation, OCR determined that the district has a practice of handling reports of student sexual harassment informally and inadequately,” the news release said.

The agreement between the DOE and the school district requires the district to implement new policies and procedures and additional training for staff and students.

In a statement announcing the agreement, Owasso Superintendent Margaret Coates said the district is committed to meeting requirements that will increase safety and inclusivity in the schools.

“While we continue to believe that the original complaint to OCR was based on inaccurate information, OPS understands how important it is for the district to remain compliant with Title IX regulations regarding policies, procedures, training and documentation,” the statement said. statement from Coates. .