Requested Information
In accordance with the Maryland Public Information Act, I am requesting the following:
1. How many complaints were filed involving HCPSS sexual discrimination Policy 1020 and/or Title IX in the period 2008-2018? How many of these complaints involved student-student incidents (i.e. both the accused and complainant were students). Please provide data sorted by calendar year.
2. How many complaints were filed involving HCPSS Policy 1020 and/or Title IX that involved elementary school students? Please provide break up by calendar year and school. Further, please provide break up by the grade level of the children involved.
3. How many of these complaints were dismissed without any action against the accused?
4. In cases where corrective action was taken - what was the action taken against the accused student ? What was the evidence that was used/collected to conclude that there was a violation of policy 1020 by the accused student?
5. How many false allegations were reported relating to sexual discrimination or sexual harassment in the period 2010 - 2018?
1. How many complaints were filed involving HCPSS sexual discrimination Policy 1020 and/or Title IX in the period 2008-2018? How many of these complaints involved student-student incidents (i.e. both the accused and complainant were students). Please provide data sorted by calendar year.
2. How many complaints were filed involving HCPSS Policy 1020 and/or Title IX that involved elementary school students? Please provide break up by calendar year and school. Further, please provide break up by the grade level of the children involved.
3. How many of these complaints were dismissed without any action against the accused?
4. In cases where corrective action was taken - what was the action taken against the accused student ? What was the evidence that was used/collected to conclude that there was a violation of policy 1020 by the accused student?
5. How many false allegations were reported relating to sexual discrimination or sexual harassment in the period 2010 - 2018?
Status
Complete
Response Notes
Responsive to this request, student-student and staff-staff complaints filed under Policy 1020 Sexual Discrimination are tracked by school year by the HCPSS Title IX Coordinator in accordance with section II. Reporting Violations of Policy of the Implementation Procedures and included below. Please note however, sexual harassment of a student by an adult is addressed and reported in accordance with Policy 1030 Child Abuse and Neglect and therefore not included in the Policy 1020 data provided here.
- Data concerning reported complaints of Policy 1020 violations involving student on student incidents was located back to 2015 (see files below) when the policy went into effect. Under the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA), which restricts access to student records, and MPIA GP § 4-313, which prevents disclosure of school district records pertaining to individual students, we have redacted any reference to a particular student, and/or information that, when combined with other data, can reasonably identify an individual student or reveals information from an individual student’s record. Additionally, dispositions of individual cases and resulting actions would require access to and review of private student files. Under both FERPA and MPIA GP § 4-313, we are denying your request to determine actions taken and/or investigative outcomes in each case.
- Data concerning reported complaints of Policy 1020 violations involving staff on staff incidents was located back to 2011, however due to the specific information recorded and small numbers which have the potential to reveal personnel information under MPIA GP § 4-311, we are withholding this record as well as dispositions of individual cases and resulting actions which are kept in individual personnel records and reveal disciplinary or other matters involving an employee’s status. We can however provide the counts of such reports, which are as follows:
- SY2011: 1
- SY2012: 3
- SY2013: 8
- SY2014: 0
- SY2015: 1
- SY2016: 7
- SY2017: 4
- SY2018: 2
Responsive Documents
See response notes above.
See response notes above.
See response notes above.