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Civil rights violations

School-related civil rights complaints surge

Greg Toppo
USATODAY

School-related civil rights complaints surged to a new record last year as the U.S. Education Department fielded an unprecedented 10,392 grievances, with nearly half of them related to alleged discrimination against students with disabilities, new data show.

FILE - In this Feb. 25, 2016 file photo, John King, Jr., testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

In findings released Wednesday, the department’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) said 46% of the complaints, or 4,806, related to disability, including 76 cases alleging improper restraint or seclusion of students with disabilities. The restraint and seclusion figures represented the highest number ever and a 58% increase from the previous year.

Since OCR began tracking the complaint in 2011, the number of alleged cases reported annually has essentially doubled.

The total number of complaints rose 50% since 2010, when the department logged 6,933 cases.

Complaints of sexual violence on college and university campuses also have exploded, the findings show: In just the past five years, complaints at the post-secondary level rose from 11 to 164.

Among other findings:

  • 28% of complaints were related to sexual discrimination, with 229 complaints overall involving sexual violence;
  • While racial harassment complaints over the past five years have risen, on average, over the previous five years, the number of complaints in 2015 actually dropped about 17% compared to 2014;
  • Overall, the number of complaints of all types received in the 2015 fiscal year rose 88% since a decade earlier, the findings show. 

The federal fiscal year began in October 2014 and ended in September 2015.

The report also noted that OCR is working with the Justice Department in cases regarding the rights of transgender students’ access to restrooms and locker rooms “consistent with their gender identity.”

Chicago schools say transgender kids should use bathrooms matching identity

U.S. Education Secretary John King said on Monday that restrictions on which bathrooms transgender students use "are hateful laws and should be repealed."

He said the laws, such as those in North Carolina and Mississippi, send "a deeply problematic message to young people in schools and should be changed."

King said the Obama administration was considering “enforcement actions” in North Carolina and Mississippi — administration lawyers have said in court filings that such legislation violates federal law.

"My hope is legislators will realize they've made a terrible mistake," King said.

Follow Greg Toppo on Twitter: @gtoppo


  

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