Re: Gebser/Davis pincers

From: Kristen Galles (kgalles@erols.com)
Date: Tue Feb 16 1999 - 23:34:48 EST


I have run into problems with untrained investigators, most of whom are not
attorneys. Many times they never even visit the schools they investigate.
Instead they sit in their offices and ask for documentary info. Also, when a
parent files a Title IX complaint, OCR only looks into the one matter and not
related violations. School, though, get the impression that OCR is giving them
a clean bill of health on everything. I also have seen OCR way too eager to
settle a complaint without forcing full compliance with the law.

What bugs me most is that OCR negotiates with the school for months without
communicating with the complainant at all. The next thing the parent knows, the
school announces a resolution and the parent doesn't see it or when she/he does,
it is FAR from what the kids need. In short, I've found OCR to be very wimpy
and would not want them to represent me if I were in a lawsuit......but then
maybe that's why I'm a plaintiff's civil rights lawyer.

Oh, and Anne, I'm from Iowa, too (at least formerly).

Kristen Galles
kgalles@erols.com

Anne Kinzel wrote:

> Ms. Dennis:
>
> Thank you for explaining to all of us how OCR enforcement operates. I
> wish, as a fellow attorney I shared your apparent approval of the quality
> of the work that your agency does with respect to enforcement...



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