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ERIC Number: EJ826958
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2009-Jan-28
Pages: 3
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0277-4232
EISSN: N/A
Sex-Bias Remedies Upheld: High Court to Hear Cases on Student Search, IDEA
Walsh, Mark
Education Week, v28 n19 p1, 18-19 Jan 2009
This article reports a U.S. Supreme Court decision last week which supports the parents of a Massachusetts student who claimed that school officials failed to respond adequately to sexual harassment of their daughter--then in kindergarten--by a 3rd grade boy on her bus. The parents sued the district under both Title IX and Section 1983. In the latter claim, the parents alleged that school officials discriminated based on sex in their investigations of student misbehavior in violation of the equal-protection clause of the 14th Amendment. The Supreme Court's decision endorses a wider range of remedies for sex discrimination in schools, which is seen as a defeat for school districts. The court's unanimous ruling that Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is not the exclusive means for suing districts over sex bias was part of a flurry of activity on cases with significance for educators. The court also issued a ruling on immunity from lawsuits for educators and other government officials, and said it would take up appeals dealing with the legality of student searches and private school placements of special education students. In the Title IX case, the justices ruled that the 1972 statute does not bar victims of sex discrimination in schools from pursuing claims under the federal statute known as Section 1983, a Reconstruction-era law that allows plaintiffs to sue any individual who violates their civil rights under color of law. In some cases, the statute may offer wider protections than Title IX, which bars sex discrimination in federally financed schools and colleges.
Editorial Projects in Education. 6935 Arlington Road Suite 100, Bethesda, MD 20814-5233. Tel: 800-346-1834; Tel: 301-280-3100; e-mail: customercare@epe.org; Web site: http://www.edweek.org/info/about/
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Elementary Education
Audience: Parents
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Massachusetts
Identifiers - Laws, Policies, & Programs: Education Amendments 1972; Fourteenth Amendment; Individuals with Disabilities Education Act; Title IX Education Amendments 1972
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A