title ix actions

Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments protects students in federally funded schools from discrimination based on sex or gender.  

• Sexual discrimination in public schools could include sexually based jokes, harassment, touching, sexually-based threats, or written materials. 
• Gender discrimination is similar but might also include harassment based on a student’s lack of conformation to sex-based stereotypes.

The U.S. Supreme Court has established a procedure for prosecuting Title IX bullying claims. In Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education, the Court permitted a bullied student to recover against the school district by showing 1) the school had actual knowledge of the harassment; 2) the school was deliberately indifferent to known acts of harassment; and 3) the harassment was so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it could be said to deprive the student of access to educational benefits or opportunities provided by the school

Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 protects students from discrimination based on race, color, or national origin.  A student alleging public school failure to protect against recognized discrimination under Title VI must show the following: 

1. the school was deliberately indifferent to known acts of harassment, and 
2. the harassment was so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive it could be said to deprive the student of access to educational benefits or opportunities provided by the school.

Types of harassment which qualify as under Title VI protections include racial epithets, vandalism, physical attacks, and threats of lynching.  School districts must be vigilant for allegations of protected-class bullying. While a school may respond to the harassment by disciplining the perpetrators, courts have often found that if a school fails to take reasonable action to address the "pervasive atmosphere of racism" in the school, that school can be held liable for damages, including equitable and monetary damages.