The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced that the San Diego Unified School District in California has entered into a resolution agreement to address violations of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The agreement also resolves concerns about the district’s compliance with Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.
Following an examination of 253 reports and complaints over three school years, OCR determined that the district frequently failed to meet its Title IX obligations to equitably respond to allegations of sexual harassment. These shortcomings led to repeated instances of harassment with inadequate responses from the district, leaving students vulnerable to sex discrimination prohibited by Title IX.
Additionally, OCR found that the district did not evaluate whether allegations, including sexual assault, violated Title IX and resulted in sex-based discrimination against affected students. The district also failed to address the effects of confirmed sexual harassment on students and did not provide equitable notice of investigation outcomes to all parties involved.
During its review, OCR identified concerns regarding potential violations of Section 504 and Title II. The district received notices about students with disabilities who were either perpetrators or targets of harassment but failed to evaluate these behaviors as potentially disability-related. There was no evidence showing that the district met its obligations under Section 504 and Title II to evaluate such students or reassess their needs when existing supports were ineffective.
In response to these findings, the San Diego Unified School District has taken steps during this compliance review period by establishing a new office for compliance and hiring additional staff for Title IX work. The commitments made by the district include:
- Reviewing past incidents of student-to-student and employee-to-student sexual harassment.
- Providing annual training for students in grades 3-12 on recognizing and reporting sexual harassment.
- Conducting annual climate surveys regarding sexual harassment.
- Ensuring policies comply with Title IX.
- Training employees annually on their obligations under Title IX, Section 504, and Title II.
- Implementing an approved system for maintaining data related to sexual harassment reports and investigations.
- Fulfilling Title IX obligations when law enforcement is involved in responding to student harassment cases.
“Through today’s resolution, San Diego Unified commits to overhaul its response to allegations of sexual harassment to ensure all its students learn safely and without sex or disability discrimination,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon. “OCR looks forward to working with the district to redress serial perpetration, protect students with disabilities from being preyed upon, and ensure that district students can expect to focus on learning without unlawful sexual harassment.”
The letter of resolution and the resolution agreement are available on OCR’s website.
