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Mingo County Schools agrees to Title IX improvements

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The U.S. Department of Education is requiring the Mingo County school system to make changes in how it reviews sexual assault complaints under Title IX.

The department’s Office for Civil Rights has announced a resolution agreement with the system following a recent investigation. The agreement “commits the district to take the steps needed to ensure nondiscrimination on the basis of sex in all of its education programs and activities,” according to a Department of Education news release.

Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in any school or any other education program that receives funding from the federal government.

OCR began its investigation in Mingo County after the school system “did not complete an investigation of serial misconduct and that it did not respond equitably to complaints of sexual assault during the 2017-2018, 2018-2019, and 2019-2020 academic years.”

The federal education agency said one of the reviews focused on how “male respondents may have been treated less favorably than female respondents.”

MORE Read U.S. Department of Education letter to Mingo County here

Among other issues, the OCR investigation discovered Mingo County Schools didn’t have a Title IX coordinator before August 2020, didn’t adopt and publish Title IX grievance procedures, had bad record keeping for Title IX and had a confusing Title IX policy for parents and students.

“In addition, the district’s files were often incomplete or kept in a manner that did not allow OCR to assess the adequacy of the district’s response to Title IX complaints and, ultimately, determine whether the district complied with Title IX,” a U.S. Department of Education news release said.

The resolution agreement includes:

–Designating and identifying its Title IX coordinator(s) and providing Title IX training.

–Reviewing and revising its Title IX policies and submitting to OCR case file documentation sufficient to show that the district’s revised Title IX policies are compliant and effective.

–Publishing a compliant notice of nondiscrimination.

–Reviewing all complaints of student and staff Title IX misconduct during the 2017-2018, 2018-2019, 2019-2020, 2021-2022, and 2022-2023 school years to determine – with OCR review and approval – whether additional actions need to be taken to comply with Title IX.

–Surveying students and parents to assess a need for additional changes.

The district has also agreed to further review the complaints from 2017 to 2020 and take additional action if necessary.

“Mingo County Schools’ commitments today to ensure consistent and equitable investigation of and response to possible sexual assault of students in the district’s charge, as well as training, staffing, and policy development that fulfill the Title IX mandate, are crucial to ensuring student safety,” said Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon.





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