蜜桃影视

When a senior Education Department official recently outlined years of harrowing findings against Chicago鈥檚 public school system, attorney Seth Galanter saw a blatant contradiction. Officials trumpeted an investigation that found widespread failures in the district鈥檚 response to sexual misconduct complaints 鈥斅爓hile relying on rules it has sought to curb for over a year.

鈥淚t is hypocritical of the department to publicize this case as evidence of the department doing things when the department is trying to prevent this from ever happening again,鈥� said Galanter, senior director of legal advocacy at the National Center for Youth Law.

The damning findings against Chicago Public Schools landed as the education policy world was awaiting the release of regulations that could reshape Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex discrimination in education. In November 2018, the Education Department released proposed Title IX regulations that limit the scope of federal oversight and bolster the due process rights of accused perpetrators. But some of the proposed changes 鈥斅爏uch as defining more narrowly which school officials must respond to misconduct reports and limiting the locations where an assault report would trigger a mandatory response from the school 鈥� could undermine future cases that resemble the one in Chicago, critics say.

An Education Department spokesperson didn鈥檛 respond to questions about the Chicago findings or its proposed regulations.

When the department announced a with the district last month, it called the moment historic. Kenneth Marcus, assistant secretary for civil rights at the Department of Education, said the agreement was the result of 鈥減robably the most comprehensive investigation鈥� his agency has ever undertaken involving sexual violence at an urban public school system.

鈥淲e cannot permit this to recur in Chicago or anywhere else,鈥� Marcus said. The agreement requires the district to overhaul its efforts to combat sexual harassment and abuse. The changes required 鈥渁re not mere tweaks to an existing policy,鈥� Marcus said. 鈥淭hey require a very significant rebuild.鈥�

During the Obama administration, the department received two separate complaints against the district in 2015 and 2016, both alleging that the school system failed to respond promptly to complaints of sexual abuse. As they examined those complaints, federal officials launched a 鈥渟ystemic鈥� investigation against the district that encompassed more than 3,000 harassment and abuse allegations against students and adults.

For about a decade, investigators found, the Chicago district lacked a Title IX coordinator as required by federal law. District officials also failed to respond promptly to misconduct complaints, maintain records and follow procedures.

In one of the complaints that prompted the federal investigation, a Chicago student alleged that a teacher sexually assaulted her during the 2012-13 school year. Prior to the alleged assault, the teacher had commented on the student鈥檚 appearance, excused her from other classes so he could spend time with her in his classroom, bought her gifts, and sent her private emails and text messages, according to federal findings.

Then the situation escalated. The student alleges that the teacher drove her to a restaurant, where he bought her alcohol and kissed her. After the student became upset and asked the teacher to drive her home, he allegedly assaulted her in his car.

In a separate complaint to federal officials, a Chicago student alleges she was on her way home from school when a group of boys, including multiple classmates, surrounded her in a park, forced her into a vacant building and repeatedly sexually assaulted her. In both incidents, Chicago officials failed to respond appropriately to the reported allegations, federal investigators found.

But among the problems that investigators identified in Chicago are issues the department is 鈥渢rying to eliminate as violations going forward,鈥� said Galanter, who previously worked as a senior official at the Education Department鈥檚 Office for Civil Rights during the Obama administration. 鈥淭hey seem to be wanting to take credit for fixing things, but they are also dismantling the very requirements that they enforced in this case.鈥�

In July, the department . Though Education Secretary Betsy DeVos has faced criticism for her agency鈥檚 policies on civil rights enforcement, the department noted that it has resolved more complaints each year 鈥� including those involving sexual harassment 鈥斅爐han the previous administration. Under President Donald Trump, the department revised an internal manual and scaled back investigations of broader, systemic violations.

Investigating off-campus harassment

In both cases, the student victims alleged that they were assaulted off school property. One was reportedly assaulted in a teacher鈥檚 car, while the other said she was attacked in an abandoned building.

Current department rules say schools must address sexual harassment if it creates a 鈥渉ostile environment鈥� at school 鈥� regardless of where the incident transpired. Under the proposed rules, however, school districts wouldn鈥檛 be held liable for off-campus harassment unless it occurs during a school activity like a field trip or a sports event. Under the proposed regulations, it鈥檚 unlikely the federal government could have held the school accountable for the reported incident in the teacher鈥檚 car, said Elizabeth Tang, counsel for education and workplace justice at the National Women鈥檚 Law Center. In fact, 鈥渢he school would be required to dismiss that complaint,鈥� Tang said. This change wouldn鈥檛 affect the district鈥檚 obligation to investigate the comments the teacher made to the student at school, Tang said, or the times he excused her from class to spend time with him in his classroom.

The center, in partnership with the National Center for Youth Law and other civil rights groups, after it rescinded Obama-era guidance on how schools should manage sexual harassment and assault complaints. The Obama letter directed schools to use a 鈥減reponderance of the evidence鈥� standard in investigations, rather than a tougher 鈥渃lear and convincing鈥� standard.

In the other Chicago case, the student reported that she was attacked in a vacant building on her way home from school. As such, the education department wouldn鈥檛 be able to hold the Chicago district accountable under Title IX , Galanter said.

But Shep Melnick, a politics professor at Boston College who supports the Trump administration鈥檚 proposed Title IX regulations, said the draft rules have a big gray area: It鈥檚 unclear whether heading home from school would count as a school activity, he said. Melnick said he hopes the department will better define situations 鈥渨here there might be some school control, but it鈥檚 not in school.鈥�

Attorneys noted another problem with the proposed change: Districts would still be able to investigate off-campus sexual misconduct through their own policies, such as student conduct codes, but not through formal Title IX procedures. Tang said that could require districts to create two separate procedures to address complaints, depending on whether they occur on or off campus.

鈥淭he school could have great policies on paper,鈥� Galanter said, but if it fails to protect student victims, 鈥渢he federal government couldn鈥檛 come in from a civil rights lens and say, 鈥榊ou have to respond better,鈥� because under the proposed regs, the federal government doesn鈥檛 require you to respond at all.鈥�

Reporting abuse

After a Chicago teacher allegedly assaulted a student in his car, the student victim鈥檚 mother reported the allegations to the school guidance counselor, who then informed the assistant principal.

Under current department policy, schools must address sexual harassment under Title IX if a student reports an allegation to a 鈥渞esponsible employee.鈥� But the proposed regulations narrow the group of school officials who鈥檇 be required to respond to sexual misconduct allegations. That group includes a Title IX coordinator, a school official with 鈥渁uthority to institute corrective measures,鈥� and a K-12 teacher in cases of student-on-student harassment.

鈥淩eporting to a guidance counselor would not have been enough under the proposed regulations,鈥� Galanter said. 鈥淚f that guidance counselor had not escalated it to the vice principal, the Office for Civil Rights would have been forced to find no violation鈥� because the school didn鈥檛 have 鈥渁ctual knowledge鈥� of the allegation, as required by the law. In this case, he said, the student鈥檚 mother 鈥渢old the wrong school employee.鈥�

There鈥檚 some ambiguity here, Tang cautioned, because the department has not defined school officials who have 鈥渁uthority to institute corrective measures.鈥� That ambiguity could cause confusion for students and their families.

鈥淚t seems so ridiculous to have to put a burden on students and families to understand who they need to report sexual harassment to in order to get help,鈥� Tang said.

However, Tang said, the courts offer some clues. Federal courts have typically held that only high-ranking administrators have 鈥渢he authority to institute corrective measures.鈥� Likewise, two federal appellate courts 鈥� the Third and Eighth Circuits 鈥� found that guidance counselors have no such authority.

Current rules incentivize districts to know information disclosed to school staff, including guidance counselors, Galanter said, while the proposed rules 鈥渁ctually incentivize ignorance on the part of the school districts.鈥� If district administrators don鈥檛 know what guidance counselors know, he said, then 鈥渢hey can鈥檛 be held responsible for failing to respond to the complaints the guidance counselor got.鈥�

A higher bar

Current rules require schools to address a broad range of misconduct complaints, including sexual harassment that creates a 鈥渉ostile environment鈥� 鈥斅爀ven if it relates to off-campus activities. But the proposed regulations 鈥渞eally upped the bar for what would count as sexual harassment,鈥� Galanter said. The proposed regulations define sexual harassment as unwelcome conduct that is 鈥渟o severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access鈥� to education.

Galanter said it鈥檚 the 鈥渁nd鈥� that鈥檚 pivotal. It鈥檚 likely some of the cases mentioned in the Chicago report 鈥� like flashing genitals 鈥� would fail to meet that standard, he said.

鈥淭hey鈥檙e crude. No one would say they are good things to do, and they are clearly teachable moments and subject to discipline under school rules, but it鈥檚 not clear to me that they鈥檙e 鈥榩ervasive and objectively offensive,鈥欌�� he said.

In fact, this language could have ruled out aspects of one of the central Chicago complaints, Tang said. Before the Chicago teacher assaulted a student in his car, according to the federal investigation, he commented on her appearance, excused her from other classes so he could spend time with her and gave her gifts. But Tang said it鈥檚 unlikely the educator鈥檚 conduct at that point would have met the criteria for severe, pervasive and objectively offensive conduct.

Similarly, the proposed regulations state that a district can be held accountable under Title IX if it is 鈥渄eliberately indifferent鈥� to complaints 鈥斅燼 change from earlier rules that required 鈥減rompt and effective action.鈥� In the Chicago case, investigators noted that an elementary school student was suspended for five days because he said he was going to rape a female classmate 鈥斅燽ut school officials didn鈥檛 provide any services, such as counseling to the victim.

In that case, Galanter argued that federal investigators would be 鈥渉ard pressed鈥� to call the school鈥檚 response deliberate indifference, even if it was insufficient.

鈥淭hey investigated, they issued some kind of punishment 鈥� that hardly describes deliberate indifference,鈥� he said.

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