JANUARY 26, 1999
Supreme Court set to decide student sexual harassment case By Judy Peres
CollegePressWriter FORSYTH, Ga. - LaShonda Davis was only 10 when she came home from school six years ago and told her mother a fifth-grade classmate had been "messing" with her. The boy had tried to grab her breasts and touch other parts of her body, LaShonda said with some embarrassment. He had threatened to do more and had told her, "I want to get in bed with you." LaShonda, an honor-roll student, said she had reported the incident to her teacher. When Aurelia Davis called the teacher that evening, she was assured the principal had been notified too. But if he was, principal Bill Querry gave no indication. According to the complaint Davis eventually filed in federal court, such incidents occurred repeatedly over the next five months and school authorities did nothing to stop them, although LaShonda told at least three different teachers. LaShonda now 16 and a junior at Monroe County High School, has tried hard to put fifth grade behind her. She will finally get her day in court - U.S. Supreme Court The outcome of her case will likely determine whether schools across the nation have an obligation to protect students from sexual harassment by other students and if they can be forced to pay damages when they fail. The court's ruling, expected sometime this spring, could affect millions of students. According to recent studies, more than 80 percent of upper-grade students report having experienced some form of sexual harassment, mostly from fellow students. Girls experience it at a higher rate than boys, one study said. Under Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, schools that receive federal funds may not discriminate against students on
The Supreme Court has said schools can be held liable under Title IX when a teacher or other school employee harasses a student, as long as the school knew about the harassment and acted with "deliberate indifference." Davis contends the same principle should hold when the harassment is inflicted by a fellow student, if school officials knew it was going on and did nothing to stop it. "It guarantees that persons not be subjected to discrimination. "When a school refuses to address five months of repeated attempts to touch a student's genitals and five months of vulgar comments, it subjects that student to discrimination." The Monroe County school board argues that Title IX does not cover student-to-student sexual harassment, and two lower courts have agreed. The school board also argues there were no federal rules on sexual harassment in the schools during the 1992-93 school year, when LaShonda's complaint arose. Some officials worry that facing potential federal liability won't make schools do a better job of preventing student-to-student harassment but might make them overreact, treating every minor transgression as a federal offense. When the Davis family despaired of getting the school district to solve the problem, they filed criminal charges with the county sheriff. LaShonda's harasser, identified in court documents only as G.F., pleaded guilty to sexual battery in juvenile court. Davis says she also complained to supertintendent Charles Dumas who said he'd "check into it when he got around to it." "I don't think this was mishandled," Dumas said. "We certainly don't ignore things like this - we do the best we can, he added. "Sometimes parents aren't - 4( satisfied."
...more than 80 percent of uppergrade students report having experienced some form of sexual harrassment...
the basis of sex.
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