Calif. School District Investigates Spate of Sexual Assault, Harassment Claims
The Palo Alto School District currently has more than 20 Title IX sexual violence cases pending.
The school district in Palo Alto, Calif., is now investigating more than 20 sexual assault or harassment cases involving students. Most of those cases were reported in May after the media reported on the district’s handling of sexual violence.
District board members learned of the number of cases in a special meeting last week, reports the Mercury News.
In the month of May, there were 18 reports related to Title IX. Additionally, 19 Title IX complaints were logged between August and April relating to harassment involving a protected class or diversity-based and disability-based discrimination.
Board Trustee Todd Collins told the newspaper that the vast majority of incidents probably aren’t reported. He also said the district must encourage people to come forward.
Most of the incidents involve Palo Alto High School students and sexual assault or harassment on campus. Some cases happened off-campus… some related to school and some not.
The district plans to create a new assistant superintendent position to handle sexual harassment complaints and oversee staff training.
Earlier this year, Campus Safety reported that the U.S. Department of Education found that the district failed to promptly respond to reports of sexual assault and harassment. The Palo Alto School District agreed to its policies regarding sexual assault and sex discrimination in addition to launching new investigations into previous cases the school mishandled. It also agreed to provide additional training to staff members on sexual violence response.
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