Civil Rights

On February 26, 2020, Secretary DeVos announced that the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) will launch a new Title IX enforcement initiative to address the disturbing increase of sexual assaults in K-12 public schools. The most recent Civil Rights Data Collection from the 2015-2016 school year indicates that there were approximately 9,700 incidents of sexual assault, rape, or attempted rape in our nation’s public elementary and secondary schools. This new initiative is intended to bolster the Department’s implementation of the “Pass the Trash” provisions of the Every Student Succeeds Act.  Specifically, OCR will conduct compliance reviews, raise public awareness and support, conduct data quality reviews, and collect more detailed data on sexual assaults in the nation’s public schools.  Secretary DeVos stated, “We cannot rest until every student can learn in a safe, nurturing environment where their civil rights are protected.”