Re: OCR and Title IX

Jacquelyn Zimmerman (Jacquelyn_Zimmerman@ed.gov)
Thu, 30 Apr 1998 12:16:17 -0400


Linda Purrington wrote:
"The following paragraph is excerpted from Title IX: 25 Years of
Progress
[sic] (Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, 1997).
It
troubles me that this is held out as an example of how success in
equity; do you have a similar reaction?:

"Sexual Asaults and Threats in High School
In one school district, a disabled sophomore high school student was
sexually harassed by her male music teacher."

Linda's questions about this case are right on target. I was involved with
writing this publication and many of us who worked on it raised the same
questions as Linda. I believe, however, that this example reflects the variety
of "solutions" required to incidents of this kind. Here, it was most likely
quicker to get the student out of the abusive setting than to change the setting
itself. The important immediate goal was to protect the student. Of course
that solution doesn't protect students (plural) for the long run. Once again,
there is always more than meets the eye and questions like Linda's help us see
better, become more aware of levels of inquiry.

jacquelyn_zimmerman@ed.gov


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