Brunswick schools tighten policy language after NHCS Title IX survey draws national controversy portcitydaily.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from portcitydaily.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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On Monday, February 15th, New Hanover County Schools’ Title IX Committee decided they still need more time to flesh out the latest survey on school climate. But committee members did weigh-in on the survey’s overall scaffold.
The Title IX Committee was created in 2019 and it deals with issues related to sex discrimination and harassment. It’s now tasked with coming up with a survey to assess the prevalence of those issues.
To review what’s happened with the survey since the start of the year: At the New Hanover County School Board meeting on January 5th, 2021, Jarelle Lewis, the Title IX coordinator, presented a draft of the survey to be approved by the board.
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New Hanover County Schools is looking to revamp their district-wide Title IX survey. Proposed questions would include topics on discrimination, bullying, and school climate. And
maybe one on sexual harassment.
Title IX is a law that bans discrimination on the basis of sex in any federally-supported education program or activity. It has also been used in court cases to prevent sexual harassment and abuse.
With this proposed anonymous and voluntary survey for students, the school system would explore further issues with Title IX compliance. But contention around adding a certain question is partially to blame for its delayed rollout.
history with sex crimes against students, the most recent drafts have no mention of sexual assault.
It’s not clear who pulled the questions. However, it is clear the debate over whether or not to include the question of if a student has experienced sexual assault presents a legal liability to the district, hence why it has been hesitant to invite such disclosures through the survey.
Now, the district is going back to the drawing board on the recently debated survey.
Revisiting the survey
About a year ago, the school system was working to create a Title IX survey to send out to middle and high schoolers. However, that effort was largely abandoned when the pandemic hit and took students out of classrooms.