The District's Title IX PR Effort
Seattle Public Schools has a real problem with Title IX compliance. They knew about this problem for years and took no action. Recently, these problems were exposed in the press. When the District started getting bad press about their Title IX problems they began to respond - to the PR problem.
I have long said that the School District only responds to three stimuli: litigation (or the threat of litigation), money, and bad press - especially bad national press. The District's senior leadership had no trouble with their Title IX failures until they were reported in the national media, in Al Jazeera America. Then they became a PR problem, and the District has responded to them as a PR problem.
Here is the heart of the District's PR response: a brand new district web page on Title IX. This page can be found by clicking on Title IX on the Districts Departments page. I was not aware that the District had a Title IX department, but, apparently, the web managers think they do.
This page is still very new and its going through a lot of revision. It contains links to a number of interesting documents.
After some boilerplate language about how Seattle Public Schools does not discriminate, a description of Title IX, and a little blurb about sexual harassment, the announcements begin. As usual with Seattle Public Schools, their announcements are less interesting in what they say as they are in what they don't say.
"The Seattle Public School District is currently conducting a general review of its Title IX Compliance program. This webpage will be updated as necessary."
A general review? Interesting choice of words. And no mention of the OCR investigation.
I have long said that the School District only responds to three stimuli: litigation (or the threat of litigation), money, and bad press - especially bad national press. The District's senior leadership had no trouble with their Title IX failures until they were reported in the national media, in Al Jazeera America. Then they became a PR problem, and the District has responded to them as a PR problem.
Here is the heart of the District's PR response: a brand new district web page on Title IX. This page can be found by clicking on Title IX on the Districts Departments page. I was not aware that the District had a Title IX department, but, apparently, the web managers think they do.
This page is still very new and its going through a lot of revision. It contains links to a number of interesting documents.
After some boilerplate language about how Seattle Public Schools does not discriminate, a description of Title IX, and a little blurb about sexual harassment, the announcements begin. As usual with Seattle Public Schools, their announcements are less interesting in what they say as they are in what they don't say.
At the top
The very top of the page has this announcement:"The Seattle Public School District is currently conducting a general review of its Title IX Compliance program. This webpage will be updated as necessary."
A general review? Interesting choice of words. And no mention of the OCR investigation.
Comments
Students Demand University Of Kansas Stop Calling Rape 'Nonconsensual Sex'
"The victim in that case filed a federal complaint, prompting an ongoing investigation of the school by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. The probe, which began in July, is among the U.S. government's investigations of sexual assault at 77 colleges and universities.
The September Siblings group's demands included an internal investigation by the provost’s office into the school officials handling sexual assault cases, and raising the minimum sanction for sexual assault and harassment so that it exceeds the punishment for plagiarism.
The list also calls for the school to change how it refers to sexual assault: "Elimination of the term 'non-consensual sex.' It is rape."
Ron English must have been reading their rulebook... Hey, whatever minimizes the district responsibility to protect their students. Disgusting.
The Title IX coordinator is responsible for figuring out what went wrong and who is accountable. The general counsel is responsible for minimizing the district's liability and protecting them from lawsuits. There's a reason why the general counsel shouldn't be acting as the Title IX coordinator. It's even explicitly forbidden by the Dear Colleague letter written by the Office for Civil Rights.
Conclusion? Apostle wasn't trained.
The only other two explanations are that Mr. Apostle knew his duties but chose not to fulfill them or that Mr. Apostle knew his duties and was directed not to fulfill them.
Believe me. The facts are clear. Mr. Apostle didn't take a single action following the reported rape at NatureBridge in November 2012. He appears nowhere in the documented actions taken by the District. Of the three possible explanations, ignorance of his duties is the most charitable and sympathetic for the District. It is the only one that doesn't imply malice or intentional disregard.
When it comes to PR, the District moves really fast.
They have already updated the Title IX web page. The officials section has been moved and the bit about the task force has been deleted. The application link has been removed, all information about the task force has been removed.
There's no call for applicants for the task force on the district's home page where these things often appear.
There is no link to the current procedure, just the policy.
This looks like the old Title IX web page with the addition of the Audit History section and all of the other new stuff removed.