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# U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Resolves Sexual Harassment Compliance Review of Val Verde Unified School District in California

# U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Resolves Sexual Harassment Compliance Review of Val Verde Unified School District in California

June 8, 2023

**Contact:  **press@ed.gov

                                    -        
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil  Rights (OCR) announced today that the Val Verde Unified School District in  California has entered into a resolution agreement to ensure the district’s  compliance with Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 when  responding to notice of sexual harassment of its students by other students and  employees.

OCR determined that the district discriminated against  students based on sex by failing to respond appropriately under Title IX to  notice of sexual harassment, including sexual assault, during a two-year  period. Specifically, OCR found that the district repeatedly failed to address  the effects of sexual harassment on targeted students, did not take sufficient  steps to prevent recurrence of harassment, and failed to provide adequate  notice of the investigation outcomes to targeted students and their parents.

In addition, OCR found a systemic failure, persisting  today, by the district to coordinate its response to sexual assault and  harassment incidents across schools as required by the Title IX regulations. As  a result, the district had no system in place to monitor whether schools’  responses complied with Title IX requirements or to identify emergent patterns  or systemic problems by school or districtwide.

OCR also determined that the district’s implementation of  its current Title IX grievance procedures does not comply fully with the 2020  amended Title IX regulation regarding sexual harassment, that the district’s  Title IX grievance procedures in place during the time period reviewed were  inequitable because they treated complainants and respondents differently, and  the district had not fulfilled its Title IX duty to publish those procedures to  communicate to students, parents, and employees how to use them to file Title  IX complaints of sexual harassment. OCR also identified concerns with the  district’s recordkeeping system to track incidents of sexual harassment across  schools.

The district agreed to resolve the Title IX violations  and concerns OCR identified in a resolution agreement to ensure  nondiscrimination on the basis of sex in its schools.

“Val Verde Unified School District has agreed to address  nearly a decade of Title IX noncompliance regarding sexual harassment,  committing now to ensure its students may learn in the safe and  nondiscriminatory environment Congress has promised them,” said Assistant  Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon.

The resolution terms include:
- Developing a program to       assess the effectiveness of the district’s Title IX anti-discrimination       efforts.
- Revising Title IX       policies and procedures to comply with the Title IX regulations.
- Training staff and       students regarding the district’s Title IX procedures, how to identify       what constitutes sexual harassment, and how to report such harassment.
- Maintaining required       records regarding reports of sexual harassment.
- Disseminating a notice       of nondiscrimination that complies with Title IX. And,
- Administering a biannual       school climate survey to district employees and students to evaluate the       climate at each district school with respect to sexual harassment.

The letter to Val Verde Unified School District is  available here and the resolution agreement is  available here.
   -  Tags: Civil RightsTitle IXPress Releases
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