CHICAGO -- Chicago Public Schools will overhaul how it handles sexual-abuse complaints after a federal investigation found "tragic and inexcusable" problems after student complaints, the U.S. Department of Education announced Thursday.
The agency's Office for Civil Rights called its review -- which began in 2015 -- among the most comprehensive of any major urban school district. Federal officials concluded that the district's management, handling and oversight of sexual harassment violated Title IX, which is a federal law designed to protect students from abuse, harassment and gender-based discrimination.
Under the legally binding remedy that the nation's third-largest school district agreed to, any complaints will be reviewed by a second, independent party. The district also will review the actions of current and former employees and change its Title IX procedures, among other things. Federal officials will monitor the district for three years.
"The Chicago Public Schools have inexcusably failed, for quite some time, to provide their students with the basic protections required by law," Kenneth Marcus, assistant secretary for civil rights, said in a statement. "These issues must be addressed to ensure that all students in Chicago Public Schools have an opportunity to learn in a safe educational environment free from the threat of sexual harassment or sexual assault."
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Complaints that triggered the federal investigation included one in 2016 in which a girl said a group of boys, including some from her school, raped her inside a vacant building while she was on her way home from school.
Another complaint involved a sophomore who alleged that in 2013 her teacher got her drunk and abused her in his car. Before the assault, district officials had received other complaints of alleged harassment by the same teacher. The teacher was later charged and pleaded guilty.
Federal officials found the district mishandled both claims.
The investigation was expanded with federal officials interviewing staff and reviewing documents connected to 400 schools. Overall, the federal investigation involved reviewing 2,800 complaints of student-on-student harassment and 280 complaints involving adults going back to 2012.
The review noted that the district failed to respond quickly to complaints, didn't offer services to alleged victims or notify them of the results of investigations and didn't take steps to provide a safe environment for all students. The district also didn't have a Title IX coordinator from 1999 to 2018, which is required by law, and had poor record-keeping, according to the investigation.
The district acknowledged students didn't get "the comprehensive support they deserved," in a letter sent to families on Thursday and outlined steps that have already been taken, including forming a new office to handle complaints and fresh background checks for all staff members, vendors and volunteers.
In 2018, federal education officials took the unusual step of withholding $4 million in federal grant money, citing district failure to provide records on reports of sexual violence against students.
A Section on 09/13/2019