From the October 7, 1996 Daily Report Card:
-> *4   SEXUAL HARASSMENT AT SCHOOL:  SERIOUS BUSINESS
->    While the nation's attention was focused on a six-year-old
-> boy's plight after kissing a little girl on the cheek,  sexual
-> harassment cases are rapidly increasing at America's schools.
-> Yet, the area of law dealing with sexual harassment by students
-> against other students remains "murk[y]."  (Lewin, N.Y. TIMES,.
-> 10/6).
->    At the end of the summer, federal guidelines were issued to
-> school districts that warned if schools did not take appropriate
-> steps to stop student-on-student harassment the schools would be in
-> violation of Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, a law that
-> prohibits sex discrimination in schools that receive
-> federal funds," explains the paper.
->    However, several recent court rulings have been "sharply
-> divided" over whether schools can be held liable for peer
-> harassment or whether Title IX applies only to discriminatory
-> behavior by a district and its employees, writes the TIMES.
->    Naomi Gittens, a lawyer at the National Association of
-> School Boards commented on the recent spate of sexual harassment
-> cases.  "Of course it's an over-reaction to suspend a six-  or
-> seven-year old for a kiss on the cheek.  It's pretty clear that's not
-> sexual harassment under the law, and at that age you
-> shouldn't be talking about sexual harassment.  You should be
-> talking to kids about what kind of touching is O.K., whether it's
-> kissing or hitting.  But I can sympathize with schools' thinking that
-> they'll try to avoid liability by having some definite
-> policy saying anything like this is sexual harassment.  We're
-> getting more calls than ever from boards who are confused."
->    The TIMES reports on a Calif. case that demonstrates the
-> complexity involved in a peer harassment suit.  Eleven-year-old
-> Tianna Ugarte "endured months of sexual taunting and threats from a
-> sixth-grade classmate," writes the paper.  According to
-> Tianna's lawyer Sandra Springs, the family did not want to sue.
-> Springs:  "They just wanted the school to get the boy into
-> counseling.  But the school decided it was better to let this
-> girl be terrorized every day than to do something about the boy. The
-> superintendent told the parents that little girls are
-> sometimes just too sensitive."
->    School officials claim the case is more complex.  "We told
-> the Ugartes we have to verify the evidence," said Alan Newell,
-> school superintendent.  "We did investigate, and our
-> investigations concluded there was some name calling, but never
-> verified any of the other allegations," he said.  "School
-> districts are caught in the middle.  Remember, we weren't doing the
-> harassing.  We're the entity with the deep pockets.  It's
-> easy for us to be implicated and to be portrayed as being the
-> district up against the poor child.  That's not an enviable
-> position."
->    Another case in New York's South Kortright School District
-> centers on Eve Bruneau and a fellow sixth-grader.  Bruneau claims it
-> is impossible to learn in a classroom where boys call her and other
-> girls names like "whore" and "ugly dog-faced bitch."  The boys also
-> allegedly cut girls hair and grab their breasts.
-> According to the TIMES, the district sought dismissal of the
-> case, "arguing that it was not legally liable for students'
-> behavior."
->    The TIMES writes that there is no consensus about what
-> standards should apply in peer harassment cases.  In Eve's case, the
-> court ruled that "schools are responsible for stopping the
-> harassment of students by other students, under much the same
-> standards as those that apply to employers, who are responsible if
-> workers harass other workers."  Verna Williams, a lawyer at
-> the National Women's Law Center, agrees that the standard that
-> applies in the workplace should apply in school.  "A woman in an
-> office doesn't have to put up with co-workers taunting her or
-> grabbing her breasts or genitals, and neither should a girl in a
-> classroom."
->    The federal guidelines issued in August holds that a school
-> can be held liable for "maintaining a hostile environment, ... if it
-> knows or should have known of the harassment and failed to
-> take adequate measures to stop it," notes the paper.
->    But other federal courts do not accept that standard.
-> Instead, they argue school districts should be liable under Title IX
-> only for their own employees conduct.  The TIMES explains:
-> "Workers act as agents of their employers, some lawyers argue,
-> but students are not in any way agents of their schools."  While
-> employers can fire workers charged with harassment, schools have
-> limited options in punishing student offenders.
->    Many educators argue that sexual harassment issues should
-> "not be resolved in the courts but in classroom discussion about
-> appropriate behavior," writes the paper.
--- PCBoard (R) v15.22/M 10
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