The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has resolved a compliance review of the Memphis-Shelby County School District, culminating in a resolution agreement aimed at addressing the district’s handling of sexual assault cases involving both students and staff. Memphis-Shelby County is Tennessee's largest school district.
District documents reveal that teachers or substitute teachers sexually assaulted students in seven incidents across three school years, affecting all school levels: elementary, middle, and high school. Additionally, there were 53 reported cases of staff-to-student sexual harassment and 88 instances of student-to-student sexual harassment during the same period.
These documents and witness interviews indicate clear violations of Title IX by the district, raising concerns about the effectiveness of its response to such incidents. For instance, an elementary school teacher convicted of soliciting sexual exploitation was reported to have encouraged inappropriate touching among students during class. However, district records do not show any involvement from the Title IX coordinator in investigating this conduct or providing support to affected students.
The OCR found that the district failed to respond promptly or equitably to complaints of sexual harassment and assault. Specific violations include:
- Not having a designated Title IX coordinator for substantial portions of OCR’s review period.
- Failing to coordinate responses through its Title IX coordinator when one was designated.
- Not involving the Title IX coordinator in most reviewed cases.
- Lacking a nondiscrimination statement and harassment policies compliant with Title IX.
- Failing to maintain sufficient records for compliance determinations.
To address these issues, the resolution agreement requires the district to:
- Adopt and publish a compliant notice of nondiscrimination.
- Designate, train, and publicize contact information for its Title IX coordinators.
- Revise policies on responding to sexual harassment to ensure compliance with Title IX.
- Review all complaints from recent school years for proper resolution under Title IX.
- Conduct training on revised grievance procedures for staff.
- Develop procedures for documenting complaints and investigations.
- Survey students and parents about additional steps needed to address sexual harassment.
- Ensure timely submission of accurate data to the Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC).
“Students in the Memphis-Shelby County School District deserve the safety and freedom from discrimination that Congress promised them in Title IX,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon. “The Office for Civil Rights will monitor the school district in the coming years to be sure it complies with Title IX.”
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