From the Family of the Garfield Girl Student

What is the case about?

Our goal was to ensure that in the future, District students are safe by having the District recognize the problems that led to our daughter’s sexual assault and recognize the deficiencies in the District’s Title IX compliance. 

What did the District agree to in the settlement?

The Seattle Public Schools agreed to continue participation in the complaint resolution process with the US Dept. of Education Office for Civil Rights (OCR).  The goal is for the Seattle Public Schools to improve its compliance with Title IX.

Why did the family settle?

This was an opportunity to allow our daughter to move on with her life and not have to relive the trauma.  Moreover, the District agreed to continue working with OCR and has set goals for improving (1) field trip procedures, (2) Title IX compliance, and (3) training on policies.

Given your prior aggressive nature towards the District, why did you agree to stop with complaints/public records requests/etc.?

This case was never about us as the parents.  It was about our daughter and the students of the Seattle Public Schools.  This was an opportunity to get the District moving in the right direction on field trip procedures, Title IX compliance, and training on these policies and procedures.  This was an opportunity to allow our daughter to move on with her life and not have to relive the trauma.  

Are you content with the steps the District has taken?

We are pleased that the District has recognized there were deficiencies with their field trip procedures, Title IX compliance, and the training on the policies.  However, these are first steps for the District. The field trip, Title IX, and training policies will need to be continually reviewed.  The District will need to ensure that these procedures and policies are followed each and every time.  If there is a failure to follow these procedures and policies, the District will need to ensure that administrators and/or teachers that do not follow these procedures and policies are held accountable. 

Owing to our experience, we are building a non-profit called Stop Sexual Assault in School.  Its mission statement is:
Educating students, families, and schools about sexual assault prevention and the right to an equal education free of sexual harassment.

Comments

mosfet said…
Glad to hear that the OCR investigating is still happening. SPS really needs it, given the problems that they're still having with Title IX.
10/8/14, 7:47 PM
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