Dr. Miguel A. Cardona Secretary of Education | Official website
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has concluded a compliance review at the Redlands Unified School District in California, resulting in a resolution agreement to address violations of Title IX related to responses to sexual assault and harassment of students.
According to Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon, the district failed to adequately address reported incidents of sexual assault by both employees and students. Lhamon stated, "The Redlands Unified School District failed to fulfill its Title IX obligations to promptly and effectively respond to reported sexual assaults of its students by employees as well as by students."
The resolution agreement includes various actions that the district must take to ensure compliance with Title IX and provide a safe learning environment. These actions include coordinating Title IX compliance through the designated coordinator, notifying relevant parties, assessing anti-discrimination efforts, revising policies, training staff and students on identifying and reporting sexual harassment, improving recordkeeping, conducting school climate surveys, reviewing past incidents, and reporting responses to OCR.
The OCR found that the district lacked a system to monitor compliance with Title IX requirements and failed to investigate or address sexual assault allegations adequately. For instance, the district confirmed a sexual relationship between an employee and a student but did not determine if it constituted sexual harassment or created a hostile environment for the student.
Moreover, compliance concerns were raised regarding the district's recordkeeping system, discrepancies in reported sexual assault numbers, and failure to establish a system compliant with 2020 Title IX regulations.
The resolution agreement aims to rectify these shortcomings and ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex in the district's schools. The letter to the Redlands Unified School District and the resolution agreement can be accessed on the OCR website.
