U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights Announces Resolution of Sexual Harassment Compliance Review of Española Public Schools in New Mexico

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) today announced that the Española Public Schools in New Mexico entered into a resolution agreement to remedy violations of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 regarding district responses to notice of sexual harassment, including sexual assault, of its students by other students and employees.

OCR determined that the district discriminated against students based on sex by failing to respond to reports of sexual assault by employees and students, to adopt and implement Title IX grievance procedures that provide for the equitable resolution of complaints, and to coordinate its responses to such reports through its Title IX coordinator. These failures led to repeated instances of harassment in the district with insufficient district response, leaving district students vulnerable to the sex discrimination in school that Title IX forbids.

Examples of employee-to-student sexual assault allegations for which the district did not fulfill its Title IX obligations include:

• In 2019, after some students reported a teacher’s inappropriate touching of students, the district counseled the teacher but did not remove the teacher from the class until a week later when the district received another report about the teacher. The district later allowed the teacher to resign without conducting a Title IX investigation to determine if the teacher sexually harassed the students or created a hostile educational environment for them and never notified the students or their families of the outcome of their complaints.
• In 2021, employees reported having observed a teacher sexually assaulting a student with disabilities for an extended period of time in a private space at the school. The district reported the incident to law enforcement and a state agency; however, the district did not treat the incident as a Title IX matter despite the district finding “substantial evidence” that the alleged incident occurred. The district also permitted the teacher to resign without conducting a Title IX investigation and did not provide OCR with evidence that the district took steps to ensure the targeted student’s equal access to education, as required by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act (Section 504) and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (Title II).

OCR also found that the reported allegations of sexual harassment of students in 2021 and 2022 were so serious that the District responded in a clearly unreasonable manner in violation of the 2020 Title IX Regulations when its Title IX coordinator did not file complaints of sexual harassment on behalf of student victims to initiate investigations under these regulations.

In addition, the district failed to notify employees and students of the district’s designated Title IX Coordinator’s name and contact information and failed to provide an adequate notice of nondiscrimination on the basis of sex to its students, parents, and employees, as required by the Title IX regulations. OCR’s compliance review also identified concerns about the district’s recordkeeping of reports and complaints of sexual harassment during the period OCR reviewed.

The district commitments to resolve this compliance review include:

• Providing a public notice to students, parents, and employees of the opportunity to report allegations of sexual harassment occurring during school years 2017-18 through 2023-24, the period reviewed in this investigation.
• Conducting a review of reported student-to-student and employee-to-student sexual harassment during this same time period to decide if action is needed to provide an equitable resolution of the reports.
• Ensuring the district’s policies prohibiting sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, and its Title IX grievance procedures comply with Title IX.
• Annually training district employees on their Title IX obligations to respond to reports and complaints of sex discrimination, including sexual harassment, as well as their Section 504 and Title II obligations for students with disabilities.
• Providing annual age-appropriate training to all students in grades 3-12 about how to recognize and report sexual harassment and receive supportive measures and remedies.
• Implementing an OCR-approved system and policy for maintenance of data and records related to reports, complaints, and investigations of sexual harassment.
• Administering annual climate surveys of parents, students, and district employees with respect to sexual harassment in district schools. And,
• Clarifying in its policies and procedures that the district will fulfill its Title IX obligations during the pendency of law enforcement’s or another entity’s inquiry or investigation.

“Today’s resolution with Española Public Schools addresses serious noncompliance with Title IX that left district students vulnerable to sexual harassment by employees. The agreement commits the district to fulfill its civil rights obligations to ensure that all its students can learn safely and free from sex discrimination,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon. “OCR looks forward to active work with the district to ensure its full compliance with Title IX.”