Sexual harassment is unwelcome verbal or physical acts or behavior of a sexual nature which includes: - Requests for sexual favors by teachers, coaches or other school officials in return for some benefit, such as a good grade; and/or
- Behavior that creates an intimidating, hostile or offensive school environment; and/or
- Behavior that unreasonably interferes with the student's school performance.
Sexual harassment of students is against the law, whether it's teacher-on-student or student-on-student harassment. Our teacher never actually asks for sexual favors, but he’s always making jokes about sex to the girls before and after class. When we complained about it, he just told us we have no sense of humor. Is that sexual harassment? Possibly. First of all, if he did ask for sexual favors from a student in return for getting an “A” in his class, that is clearly sexual harassment and against the law. But his continued unwelcome sexual jokes to the girls in class may be creating a “hostile” classroom environment for female students and seriously interfering with their ability to study and do well at school. That may also be sexual harassment. In general, for a school district to be held liable for teacher-on-student sexual harassment, you have to show that school officials who could have stopped the sexual harassment actually knew about it and deliberately did nothing about it. Therefore, it is important to inform school officials of behavior that makes you uncomfortable and/or interferes with your schooling. There are two guys in my class who have been bothering me for months. My parents complained about it to the teachers and the principal a bunch of times. They didn’t do anything. I couldn’t take it—my grades dropped and I withdrew from a class because one of the guys sat next to me and wouldn’t let up. Are public school students protected from sexual harassment by other students? Yes. Public school officials can be legally responsible for student-on-student sexual harassment that occurs at school when the officials have been: - Deliberately indifferent to the harassment;
- Clearly know about the harassment;
- The harassment is so pervasive that it deprives the student being harassed of educational opportunities at the school.
In your case, the school officials knew about the harassment since you told them repeatedly; they did nothing about it when reasonable steps could have been taken (such as talking to the guys about it, moving your seat in class, or transferring one of you to a different class); and it was so serious that it ended up hurting your school performance. The school may be liable for the sexual harassment you experienced. What should I do if I have a sexual harassment complaint against a school official? You might consider doing the following: - Find out what your school's sexual harassment policy is. All schools must have a procedure for students to report and resolve complaints of sexual harassment.
- Follow your school's complaint procedure.
- Put your report in writing. Include all the details of the incident such as who was involved, who witnessed it (get their names and contact information!), what happened, when it happened and where it happened.
- Keep a copy of the report for yourself.
- File a complaint with the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission. Contact your local branch by looking in the Government section (blue pages) of your phone book.
- File a lawsuit in federal district court.
- File a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights in the U.S. Department of Education:
Office of Civil Rights
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Washington, D.C. 20202-1100
(800) 421-3481
www.ed.gov/ocr
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