Title IX Information

SEXUAL HARASSMENT (BP 5145.7)

The Governing Board is committed to maintaining a safe school environment that is free from harassment, discrimination, and bullying. The Board prohibits sexual harassment, targeted at any student, by anyone at school or at school-sponsored or school-related activities. The Board also prohibits retaliatory behavior or action against any person who reports, files a complaint, or testifies about, or otherwise supports a complainant in alleging sexual harassment.

The district strongly encourages students who feel that they are being or have been sexually harassed on school grounds or at a school-sponsored or school-related activity by another student or an adult, or who have experienced off-campus sexual harassment that has a continuing effect on campus, to immediately contact their teacher, the principal, the school's Title IX Liason, or any other available school employee. Any employee who receives a report of sexual harassment shall notify the Title IX Coordinator.

Any school employee who observes an incident of sexual harassment involving a student shall, within one school day, report the observation to the principal or Title IX Coordinator, regardless of whether the alleged victim files a formal complaint.

Prohibited sexual harassment includes, but is not limited to, unwelcome sexual advances, unwanted requests for sexual favors, or other unwanted verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature made against another person of the same or opposite sex in the educational setting, under any of the following conditions: (Education Code 212.5; 5 CCR 4916) 1.

Submission to the conduct is explicitly or implicitly made a term or condition of a student's academic status or progress.
Submission to or rejection of the conduct by a student is used as the basis for academic decisions affecting the student.
The conduct has the purpose or effect of having a negative impact on the student's academic performance or of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive educational environment.
Submission to or rejection of the conduct by the student is used as the basis for any decision affecting the student regarding benefits and services, honors, programs, or activities available at or through any district program or activity.

Examples of types of conduct which are prohibited in the district and which may constitute sexual harassment include, but are not limited to:

Unwelcome leering, sexual flirtations, or propositions
Unwelcome sexual slurs, epithets, threats, verbal abuse, derogatory comments, or sexually degrading descriptions
Graphic verbal comments about an individual's body or overly personal conversation
Sexual jokes, derogatory posters, notes, stories, cartoons, drawings, pictures, obscene gestures, or computer-generated images of a sexual nature
Spreading sexual rumors
Teasing or sexual remarks about students enrolled in a predominantly single-sex class
Massaging, grabbing, fondling, stroking, or brushing the body
Touching an individual's body or clothes in a sexual way
Impeding or blocking movements or any physical interference with school activities when directed at an individual on the basis of sex
Displaying sexually suggestive objects
Sexual assault, sexual battery, or sexual coercion
Electronic communications containing comments, words, or images described above

Any prohibited conduct that occurs off campus or outside of school-related or school-sponsored programs or activities will be regarded as sexual harassment in violation of district policy if it has a continuing effect on or creates a hostile school environment for the complainant or victim of the conduct.

Title IX Sexual Harassment Complaint Procedures

Any complaint governed by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 alleging that a student was subjected to one or more of the following forms of sexual harassment: (34 CFR 106.30)

A district employee conditioning the provision of a district aid, benefit, or service on the student's participation in unwelcome sexual conduct.
Unwelcome conduct determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a student equal access to the district's education program or activity.
Sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence, or stalking as defined in 20 USC 1092 or 34 USC 12291.

shall follow the complaint procedures described in Administrative Regulation 5144.71.

Reporting Allegations/Filing a Formal Complaint

A student who is the alleged victim of sexual harassment or the student's parent/guardian may submit a report of sexual harassment to the district's Title IX Coordinator using the contact information listed in Administrative Regulation 5145.7 - Sexual Harassment, or to any other available school employee, who shall forward the report to the Title IX Coordinator within one workday of receiving the report.

If the district has actual knowledge of sexual harassment or allegations of sexual harassment but the alleged victim does not file a formal complaint, the Title IX Coordinator may file a formal complaint and, in situations when an imminent safety threat exists, shall file a formal complaint. In such cases, the Title IX Coordinator shall provide the alleged victim notices as required by the Title IX regulations at specific points in the complaint process.

Dr. Brent Forsee
Assistant Superintendent Educational Services
150 S. Third Avenue, Arcadia, CA 91006
(626) 821-6627

A formal complaint shall include the complainant's physical or digital signature, or another indication that the complainant is the person filing the complaint, and be filed with the Title IX Coordinator in person, by mail, by email, or by any other method authorized by the district. (34 CFR 106.30)

AUSD TITLE IX FORMAL WRITTEN COMPLAINT FORM

When implementing Title IX grievance procedures, the district shall treat complainants and respondents equitably by providing remedies to a complainant where a determination of responsibility for sexual harassment has been made against the respondent and by following a grievance process in accordance with 34 CFR 106.45 before the imposition of any disciplinary sanctions or other actions that are not supportive measures, as defined in 34 CFR 106.30, against a respondent.

The Title IX Coordinator, investigator or decision maker will ensure an objective evaluation of all relevant evidence, including both inculpatory and exculpatory evidence, and provide that credibility determination may not be based on a person's status as complainant, respondent, or witness.

Additionally, the district shall not disclose the identity of any individual who has made a report or complaint of sex discrimination, including any individual who has made a report or filed a formal complaint of sexual harassment, any complainant, any individual who has been reported to be the perpetrator of sex discrimination, any respondent, and any witness, except as may be permitted by the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act statute or regulations, as required by law, or to carry out the purposes of Title IX, including the conduct of any investigation, hearing, or judicial proceeding arising under Title IX. (34 CFR 106.30, 106.71)

The Title IX Coordinator shall dismiss a formal complaint if the alleged conduct would not constitute sexual harassment as defined in 34 CFR 106.30. Additionally, the Title IX Coordinator shall dismiss any complaint in which the alleged conduct did not occur in the district's education program or activity or did not occur against a person in the United States. In addition, the Title IX Coordinator may dismiss a formal complaint if the complainant notifies the district in writing that the complainant would like to withdraw the complaint or any allegations in the complaint, the respondent is no longer enrolled or employed by the district, or sufficient circumstances prevent the district from gathering evidence sufficient to reach a determination with regard to the complaint. (34 CFR 106.45)

The Superintendent shall designate an employee as the decision maker who will review the investigative report and determine responsibility for the alleged conduct, who shall not be the Title IX Coordinator or a person involved in the investigation of the matter. (34 CFR 106.45

Either party may appeal the district's decision or dismissal of a formal complaint or any allegation in the complaint, if the party believes that a procedural irregularity affected the outcome, new evidence is available that could affect the outcome, or a conflict of interest or bias by the Title IX Coordinator, investigator(s), or decision-maker(s) affected the outcome.