On April 27, 2015, OCR issued a resolution letter in a sexual harassment complaint filed against LaPorte Community School Corporation. The complaint alleged that the Corporation subjected a female high school student to discrimination on the basis of sex in that the Corporation did not respond promptly and effectively to sexual harassment of the student by a Corporation employee. OCR determined that the Corporation failed to comply with Title IX requirements with regard to its notice of non-discrimination and its grievance procedures and also failed to provide a prompt and equitable response to complaints of sexual harassment, as required by Title IX. On April 14, 2015, the Corporation provided OCR with a signed Resolution Agreement. The Corporation committed to issue a statement to the Corporation community of students, parents, administrators and staff, that it does not tolerate sexual harassment; review and revise applicable policies and procedures; provide sexual harassment training to all employees; provide training on investigating harassment to appropriate employees; provide sexual harassment orientation programs for students; establish a working group to make recommendations regarding the effectiveness of the anti-harassment program; conduct a climate survey to assess the effectiveness in achieving its goal of having a school environment free of sexual harassment; inform the female student in writing of the outcome of any investigation(s) and invite her to indicate whether she requires any remedial actions as a result of the sexual harassment; complete an investigation of whether any former volleyball team members were subjected to a sexually hostile environment, and then, if applicable, assess whether the student requires any remedial actions as a result of a hostile environment; assess the actions of personnel who had knowledge of reports of the sexual harassment and implement appropriate discipline of those personnel; convene focus groups of student athletes to discuss issues relating to sexual harassment in the athletic program; and maintain documents relating to complaints or other reports of sexual harassment of students.

Read the Press Release | Read the Resolution Letter PDF (59K) | Read the Resolution Agreement PDF (51K)