Federal agency investigates CMS on pending Title IX case

CHARLOTTE — The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights is investigating a pending Title IX case of sexual harassment in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district.

The investigation was opened on Nov. 7, 2022, at “elementary-secondary and post-secondary schools,” according to the DOE website.

In the past, CMS has been criticized over how the district has handled cases, in which students have reported sexual assaults.

A former Myers Park High School student sued CMS and the city for how officials handled her report of a sexual assault that happened near the campus on Nov. 3, 2015.

A judge dropped the city from the lawsuit. In January, a jury agreed the woman’s Title IX rights were not violated after she reported the incident to school officials.

The former student, labeled Jane Doe in the complaint, wanted $1 million in damages because she “suffered and continues to suffer injuries, including, without limitations, emotional distress, psychological trauma, and mortification,” according to the complaint.

The court complaint also stated, “The actions and inactions of defendants to discount Ms. Doe’s abduction and subsequent rape by a fellow student were driven by endemic and discriminatory sex-based stereotypes and gender biases held by officials at MPHS.”

The jury found that CMS didn’t have to pay the damages to Doe.

Channel 9 reported in November 2021 that CMS announced new steps officials would take when handling allegations of sexual misconduct, which included increasing support of its Title IX office.

MORE RELATED STORIES:

• Myers Park HS students call for change, claim administration covered up sex assaults
• ‘This is bigger than me’: Former CMS student who reported rape pushes for change
• Former Myers Park HS student sues district for failing to prevent her sex assault
• Current, former students call for CMS to change its handling of sexual assaults
• Students on CMS Title IX Task Force release 67 recommendations for district
• CMS confirms Myers Park HS principal suspended, interim named
• Suspended Myers Park HS principal to take on different role within CMS

Channel 9 has reached out to CMS for a comment but we have not heard back.

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