DOJ Reaches Consent Decree on Elementary School Sexual Assaults

Yesterday the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Allentown, Pennsylvania School District filed a proposed consent decree to resolve multiple complaints of peer-on-peer sexual assault at Central Elementary School. Specifically, a number of individual plaintiffs alleged that six- and seven-year-old students were sexually assaulted by another student in the boys’ bathroom at Central Elementary School during the 2003-04 school year.

The students alleged violations of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which bans sex discrimination in schools that receive federal funding. Sexual harassment, including sexual assault, is a type of sex discrimination.

DOJ intervened in a private lawsuit filed by student victims against the district, and conducted an investigation into the claims. DOJ found that sexual assaults had occurred on at least five separate occasions; the district was told of each incident immediately after it occurred, but failed to take appropriate action (and in some circumstances took no action) to prevent further assaults from occurring.

Under Title IX, schools that know or should have known about sexual assaults and other types of severe harassment need to take immediate action to eliminate the harassment, prevent its recurrence, and address its effects.

The consent decree, if approved by the court, will require the district to take various steps essential to protecting students from sexual assault. For example, the district will be required develop and implement a plan for addressing and preventing sexual harassment; hire an expert consultant to draft and implement a sexual harassment training policy and procedures; and train administrators, faculty, staff, and students on sex-based harassment.