Florida has the fourth-lowest case rate of Title IX complaints in the nation, a USA TODAY Network-Florida investigation has found.
‘They don’t know what Title IX means’
An attorney suing the school district on behalf of three families whose children Manley assaulted said that in some cases, parents did not know there were federal laws in place to protect their children. Attorney Gregg Schwartz said posting that information on walls or in a student guide just isn’t enough.
Schwartz said he believes the state needs to legislate mandatory education around rights and Title IX so students and parents know how to navigate the system better.Numbers show that Title IX was underutilizedJust 59 Title IX complaints for sexual harassment or abuse in Florida were filed with the U.S. Department of Education between 2012 and 2022.
Only 23 of Florida’s 73 public school districts and standalone schools saw Title IX complaints filed. That number includes all 67 county districts, as well as the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, Florida Virtual School and lab schools with Florida State University, Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, and the University of Florida.
Records on educators who lost their licenses or were disciplined for sexual abuse, harassment or child abuse between 2012 and 2022 tells a similar story. The Florida Department of Education listed more than 200 teachers, coaches and administrators that fell into one of those categories.Maha Ibrahim is the senior attorney for California-based gender justice nonprofit Equal Rights Amendment, which represents people in gender-based discrimination lawsuits.
"They can’t be saying Title IX is too complicated," Ibrahim said."They must be saying child sex abuse is too complicated. At best, they’re saying sex discrimination is unfortunate but I don’t care to make it stop." McGuire, the Florida Title IX trainer, predicted in a January 2022 interview with The News-Press/Naples Daily News that Florida’s complaint and investigation numbers would be abnormally low for its student population size.When The News-Press/Naples Daily News received the federal data nearly a year later, McGuire was proven correct.
In the most egregious of situations, she added, the Title IX coordinator doesn’t even realize they are the Title IX coordinator.According to Shakeshaft, some districts don’t want the negative attention that comes with a Title IX complaint. Unless the words “Title IX” are specifically invoked by a complainant, the claim of discrimination or harassment goes unreported at the state or federal level, she said.
"I think we often hear about how situations of sexual harassment are not always reported … because of victim shaming and such," Spar said."Anything that we can do to improve the process of reporting sexual violence should be implemented." "That created an environment where those that have experienced sexual assault are lying about it, dramatizing it and just can’t be trusted," Eskamani said."I think that still simmers in political spaces, at least in this chamber."
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