Radford City Public Schools and Title IX
What is Title IX?
The Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 protect people from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive Federal financial assistance and states that:
No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.
The United States Department of Justice:
Under Title IX, sexual discrimination includes harassment on the basis of sex. This can take many forms including:
- Verbal or written harassment
- Sexual assault, including rape and other unwanted sexual touching
- Stalking (when done on the basis of sex)
- Dating or domestic violence
- Discrimination based on the status of being pregnant or a parent
Schools are legally required to respond to and remedy hostile educational environments. Failure to do so means a school could risk losing federal funding.
https://sites.google.com/rcps.org/title-ix/?usp=sharing
Investigators (Compliance Officer):
School Administrators (Principal, Associate Principal, Assistant Principal), School Counselors
Decision Makers:
Central Office Administrators/Directors
Appeals:
Central Office Administrators/Directors
Radford City Public Schools complies with Policy JFHA/GBA of the Virginia School Board Association, “Prohibition Against Harassment and Retaliation.”
According to RCPS Policy JFHA/GBA, it is a violation of this policy for any student or school personnel to harass a student or school personnel based on sex, gender, race, color, national origin, disability, religion, ancestry, age, marital status, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law or based on a belief that such characteristic exists at school or any school sponsored activity. Further, it is a violation of this policy for any school personnel to tolerate harassment based on a student’s or employee’s sex, gender, race, color, national origin, disability, religion, ancestry, age, marital status or genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law or based on a belief that such characteristic exists at school or any school sponsored activity, by students, school personnel or third parties participating in, observing or otherwise engaged in school sponsored activities.
Any student or school personnel who believes he or she has been the victim of harassment prohibited by law or by this policy by a student, school personnel or a third party should report the alleged harassment to RCPS’s Compliance Officer.
Dr. Melissa McDaniel, Title IX Coordinator
(540) 731-3647
mmcdaniel@rcps.org
RESOURCES
Crossing the Line: Sexual Harassment at School
Schools in Transition - A Guide for Supporting Transgender Students in K-12 Schools
As you may be aware, on February 26, 2020, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR) launched a new civil rights enforcement initiative to combat the troubling rise of sexual assault in K-12 public schools. One aspect of this initiative involves raising awareness of the issue of sexual assault in K-12 schools, including making information available to educators, school leaders, parents and families. To that end, OCR’s Center for Outreach, Prevention, Education, and Non-discrimination (OPEN Center) has produced a very short video webinar discussing OCR’s initiative. We hope that you find this webinar helpful in highlighting OCR’s important work to stop sexual violence in K-12 public schools: OCR Short Webinar on Sexual Violence in Public Schools.
TitleIXFinalRule.pdf