The Oklahoma school district where a transgender student died this year after a bathroom altercation violated federal law by mishandling sexual harassment allegations, an investigation by the federal Department of Education has found.
The department’s Office of Civil Rights opened an investigation into Owasso Public Schools in March after a complaint from the Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest LGBTQ advocacy group. HRC alleged that the district failed to investigate sexual harassment that may have contributed to the death of 16-year-old Nex Benedict, a trans student who died on February 8, a day after a fight at Owasso High School.
A photo of Nex Benedict is projected during a candlelight service in Oklahoma City on February 24.
Benedict’s death was ruled a suicide by a medical examiner, and his name became a rallying cry among LGBTQ advocates who argued that state legislation and rhetoric from local officials targeting trans students created an unsafe school environment. Benedict, who used the pronouns he and she, told a police officer that the fight in a school bathroom started after he threw water at students who were mocking him and his friend for what they were wearing. Benedict’s mother, Sue, told the British newspaper The Independent shortly after his death that Benedict had informed her that he was being bullied because of his gender identity.
Following an investigation, the Department of Education alleged that Owasso Public Schools “has a habit of informally and inadequately handling reports of student sexual harassment,” it announced Wednesday, and that it violated Title IX, a federal law which provides protection against discrimination on the grounds of sex. in federally funded schools and academic programs.
The department said the district failed to repeatedly respond to allegations of sexual harassment for three years, in violation of Title IX rules implemented in 2020. The new regulations require district staff to explain the process for filing Title IX complaints or immediately contact complainants to discuss supportive measures such as counseling or schedule changes. The investigation found that Owasso Public Schools’ “response to some families’ reports of sexual harassment was deliberately indifferent to students’ civil rights.”
The unaddressed allegations of sexual harassment included a teacher who allegedly “groomed female students on social media by sending them more than 130 messages describing their physical appearance and asking for their photos,” another claiming that an elementary school student was “subjected to repeated harassing comments described as sexual in nature” and one alleging that a male student “repeatedly made unwanted sexual comments to a female sixth grade student at school and on the school bus.”
Following the Department of Education’s investigation, Owasso Public School agreed to voluntarily “resolve” the Title XI complaint, although the school did not admit to violating federal law.
Jordan Korphage, the district’s communications director, noted that the voluntary resolution agreement signed by the district states: “This agreement does not constitute an acknowledgment that the district is out of compliance with Title IX and/or the Title IX Regulation of 2020,” and “ The district does not admit that it was aware of harassment in its programs and activities that was so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it denied every student access to the educational benefits of the opportunities provided the district offered.”
In a letter to families Tuesday, Superintendent Margaret Coates did not mention the investigation’s findings regarding Title IX — only that the district entered into a voluntary agreement “to resolve a Title IX complaint against the district.”
The voluntary resolution agreement outlines steps the district will take for the remainder of the school year, including updating and revising policies and procedures and portions of the website.
“While we continue to believe that the original complaint to OCR was based on inaccurate information, OPS understands the importance for the district to remain compliant with Title IX regulations regarding policies, procedures, training and documentation,” Coates said in the letter. “This Voluntary Resolution Agreement reaffirms our commitment to fostering a non-discriminatory and harassment-free environment for all students and ensures the district continues to receive federal funding critical to supporting and serving our students with disabilities, English language learners students and economically disadvantaged students.”
Kelley Robinson, president of the Human Rights Campaign, said the resolution agreement “leaves no doubt” that Owasso Public Schools “failed Nex Benedict and many other vulnerable students in their care.”
“The evidence shows that officials were well aware of the hostile climate in their schools, but repeatedly chose indifference and passivity when confronted,” Robinson said in a statement Wednesday. “While no amount of accountability can fully heal the grief and anger that Nex’s family and this community feel, a message was sent today: trans and non-binary students are valuable. They and all students have rights, regardless of who is in the White House. And they deserve the same access to a high-quality, safe education – just like every other child in America.”
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
