MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) said in a new report that officials with Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) failed to adequately respond to complaints of sexual harassment and assault of students under Title IX rules.
The OCR said it has reached a resolution agreement with MSCS leaders to address the issues and make changes for the future in the largest school district in Tennessee.
In response, MSCS said: "Memphis-Shelby County Schools (MSCS) is committed to ensuring the safety, dignity, and equal educational opportunities for all students. The District recognizes the importance of Title IX compliance. The administration is addressing issues identified by the Office of Civil Rights during its review of the 2017-2020 academic years while actively collaborating to establish corrective actions regarding past reports."
In the report released Aug. 30, 2024, the OCR said it began a review of Title IX compliance at MSCS on March 12, 2020. The office said MSCS documents showed the following involving all grade levels over three school year periods – 2017 to 2018, 2018 to 2019, and 2019 to 2020:
- Seven incidents of teachers or substitute teachers sexually assaulting students,
- 53 cases of reported staff sexually harassing students,
- and 88 cases of students sexually harassing each other over the same time period.
The OCR said the documents, as well as witness interviews, showed “clear district violations of Title IX in addition to raising serious concerns regarding the efficacy of the district response in satisfaction of Title IX.” According to the U.S. ED, Title IX protects people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance.
As an example, the report said the district did not involve a Title IX coordinator with investigating the case of an elementary teacher reported to have encouraged boys and girls to touch each other inappropriately during class, and other misconduct. It said MSCS did not provide support to the affected students to ensure their equal access to education, and did not provide notice to the parties of any Title IX determination.
The OCR said the teacher was ultimately convicted of soliciting sexual exploitation of a minor.
Here’s a look at how the OCR said MSCS violated Title IX:
- Not having a designated Title IX coordinator for substantial portions of OCR’s compliance review period.
- Not coordinating its response to reports of sexual harassment, including sexual assault, through its Title IX coordinator as required during the time that a Title IX coordinator was designated.
- Not involving the Title IX coordinator in the majority of sexual harassment files reviewed for this investigation, including not involving a Title IX coordinator in any of the staff involved incidents.
- Not maintaining a nondiscrimination statement and harassment policies that comply with Title IX.
- Not fulfilling the Title IX obligation to maintain records sufficient for the district or for OCR to make compliance determinations, including with respect to inconsistent reporting to OCR for the Civil Rights Data Collection and for this compliance review.
The OCR said MSCS leaders have reached a resolution agreement, and will take the following steps for the future:
- Adopt and publish a compliant notice of nondiscrimination.
- Designate, train, and publicize the contact information for, its Title IX coordinator(s).
- Revise all policies that describe the district’s response to sexual harassment to ensure the policies are compliant with the requirements of Title IX and consistent with each other.
- Review all complaints of student and staff involved sexual assault during the 2022-2023 and 2023-2024 school years to ensure each complaint was resolved in compliance with Title IX, and if not, offer appropriate remedies.
- Conduct training on the Title IX process and its revised grievance procedures for district staff.
- Develop or revise its procedure for documenting or tracking complaints of sexual assault, including the steps taken as part of the district’s investigation into such complaints.
- Conduct a survey of students and parents to determine if the district needs to take additional steps to address sexual harassment in its schools, with OCR approval for any next steps.
- Develop a plan to ensure timely submission of complete and accurate data to the CRDC in the future and ensure that all employees who are responsible for reporting data to the CRDC receive instructions regarding how to report data to the CRDC in accordance with the plan.
“Students in the Memphis-Shelby County School District deserve the safety and freedom from discrimination that Congress promised them in Title IX, and the District now commits to fulfill its Title IX obligations to these students” 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.”