[Excerpted by Linda Purrington, Title IX Advocates,
lpurring@earthlink.net]
Dec. 17, 2000
Girls' teams win bias case Brevard School Board violated state, federal
law, judge rules
By Zenaida A. Gonzalez, FLORIDA TODAY
The Brevard County School District has violated state and federal
laws by discriminating against softball players at Titusville and
Astronaut high schools, a federal judge ruled late Friday.
U.S. District Judge Anne Conway delivered her 19-page opinion in
the case that pitted female athletes in Brevard against the School
District.
Attorneys for the girls, Mark and Lisa Tietig, sued the district
for violating Title IX, a 28-year-old federal law that bars gender
discrimination in
education, including sports programs. The School District argued that
treatment of male and female players was equal.
"The court is not unsympathetic to the fact that the School Board
operates under a tight budget and that the board must select from a number
of legitimate
competing priorities in deciding how to spend the tax dollars
allocated to it," Conway said. " However, Title IX is the law; it must be
followed.
Plaintiff correctly notes that the School Board has had decades to make the
changes andated by Title IX, yet it has not done so."
Brevard is the first K-12 school district in the nation to be sued
for violating the federal law, and the judge's decision could set a
precedent,
according to Neena Chaudhry, an attorney with the National Women's Law
Center
in Washington, D.C. Most successful lawsuits have been filed against
colleges. . . .
{Complete Story available from Florida Today; or email
lpurring@earthlink.net for full story]
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