Massachusetts School District Agrees to Add Athletics Opportunities For Girls in Response to National Women's Law Center Complaint

OCR’s investigation finds insufficient athletic opportunities for girls

(Washington, D.C.) In response to a complaint filed by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC), the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has found that girls in the Worcester Public Schools (District) are not receiving equal opportunities to play sports.  OCR concluded that the district is not meeting any one of the three tests for demonstrating compliance under Title IX.  The investigation revealed district-wide disparities of 2 to 15 percentage points between girls’ enrollment and the share of athletic participation opportunities provided to them in the district’s seven schools. These gaps represent a total of 337 additional opportunities needed to level the playing field for female students.  OCR also found that the district could not demonstrate a history and continuing practice of adding opportunities for girls, nor could it show that it was fully and effectively accommodating girls’ interests.

“The resolution of this complaint confirms the Center’s conclusion that the schools’ own data demonstrate widespread disparities in athletic opportunities,” said Marcia D. Greenberger, Co-President of the National Women’s Law Center. “This decision sends a clear message that the district must do more to provide girls equal chances to reap the valuable benefits of playing sports that extend far beyond the playing field. Numerous studies show that girls who participate in sports attain higher academic achievement, experience lower teenage pregnancy rates and have overall better health. The Center’s findings and OCR’s investigation underscore the urgency of treating girls fairly and putting these schools on the path toward compliance with Title IX.  In the forty-first year of this landmark law, it’s time to level the playing field and give girls the athletic opportunities they deserve.”

More specifically, OCR found that the discontinuation of all freshman athletics teams showed unmet interest and ability.  This conclusion was confirmed by school coaches who reported that the teams were cut for budgetary reasons rather than due to a lack of interest or ability.  The investigation also  uncovered that there are at least two sanctioned sports -- gymnastics and ice hockey -- that are not offered to girls despite the fact that many girls participate in these sports at the recreational and club levels and they are also offered competitively in the region.  OCR learned that at least six high schools in the region offer girls’ gymnastics and ice hockey programs that could provide the district with meaningful regional competitive opportunities.            

Under the resolution agreement with OCR, the district conducted a comprehensive assessment of female students’ interests, which included a survey administered to all high school and eighth grade students.  That assessment indicated that there are sports girls want to play that the district is not offering, so the district is required to add opportunities for girls by the next competitive season for the relevant sport(s). 

In addition, the agreement requires the district to add a junior varsity soccer team at South High School; open up the city-wide ski program to girls; form a committee to assess the extent to which lack of transportation to and from any cooperative or city-wide program poses a barrier to girls’ athletics participation; and develop and publicize a more formal procedure for students or others to request the addition of new sports or levels of sports. 

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