Policy 5011 includes notice and training and a review of the processes we have in place.
We train our district employees, parents/guardians, and volunteers in what sexual harassment or discrimination is and the complaint process for each one. Our student handbooks and our employee handbooks outline this information. I read The Essential Guide to Workplace Investigations and continue to attend training for Title IX coordinator. We train all of our employees upon hire through the online training program, Safe Schools. Employees go through the course What Every Employee Must Be Told and other focused training modules assigned on a three-year rotation. Employees are also emailed information annually that identifies what sexual harassment and discrimination is and who to contact to make a complaint about either of these. Information about sexual harassment is posted in each of our school’s front offices in both English and Spanish.
In the 2019-2020 school year, I investigated one official complaint having to do with Title IX. In September of 2019, a parent of a high school student made a sexual harassment complaint concerning events that allegedly happened off campus with their child and another student. At the onset of the investigation, I worked with the principal, and we created safety plans with both the complainant and the respondent. In the investigation, I found that given there was a lack of corroborating evidence for either the complainant or the respondent, it was difficult to make a determination as there was not a preponderance of evidence to support a clear determination to affirm or deny the claim of sexual harassment as described in Policy 3205. There was a protection order issued by the courts that afforded the complainant with protections consistent with a finding of sexual harassment that was compliant with the safety plan we had developed with the families, so these continued to be enforced.
During the above investigation, it came to my attention that another student had possibly been a victim of sexual harassment. I met with that student and during questioning, discovered information that needed to be reported. I worked with the counselor at the school who followed up with the student and made the necessary report to authorities. The counselor continued to support the student during the school year and checked in with them regularly.