Title IX audit finds no pervasive violations at Richmond High but recommends 14 changes to athletics

Richmond Community Schools released a targeted Title IX assessment of Richmond High School Sept. 24 that found the school needs additional female participation opportunities to reach proportionality and identified multiple areas where girls’ teams were treated less favorably, though auditors characterized the deficiencies as fixable rather than pervasive violations.

Attorney Jessica Billingsley of Church, Church, Hill & Antrim (CCHA), who recorded a summary presented to the board, said her firm evaluated participation opportunities, publicity, locker rooms, practice and competitive facilities, scheduling and equipment and supplies. The firm did not evaluate support services, coach compensation, medical services or travel allowances because the district requested a targeted audit limited to athletics at Richmond High School.

CCHA’s participation analysis concluded Richmond needs about 54 additional female-athlete participation opportunities to achieve proportionality under Title IX’s first prong. The firm said Richmond has added programs — including girls wrestling — but that female participation dropped during the COVID‑19 school year and has not recovered to pre‑pandemic levels. Because of that trend, auditors said the district was unlikely to meet Title IX’s second prong (history and continuing practice of program expansion) without further action and recommended the district collect formal surveys of interest and ability to assess adding sports under prong three.

The audit listed six summary findings and 14 recommendations. Recommendations included standardizing and publishing scheduling procedures; continuing to secure competitive opportunities for girls wrestling; alternating prime-time slots between boys’ and girls’ basketball where feasible; clarifying transportation assignment criteria and monitoring bus assignments for equitable service; developing rotation agreements for shared turf use; removing and storing tennis windscreens; upgrading the softball facility at McBride Stadium (lighting, permanent restrooms, outfield fencing, scoreboard/PA and accessibility); improving girls-wrestling practice space; developing equitable locker-room arrangements for boys’ wrestling; creating a public content calendar to ensure balanced promotion of boys’ and girls’ teams; drafting clear guidance for team-raised fundraising funds; and forming a student-athlete advisory group.

Board members said the audit and the walking tour they conducted of Richmond High’s facilities were informative. The administration said several items on CCHA’s list are already in progress or funded through the 2023 bond program — tennis courts are being reconstructed; a practice turf field adjacent to the training center is planned; and work to improve McBride softball facilities is in budgeting and planning phases. The district said the full, redacted report and an FAQ will be released publicly the following morning and that interviewee names would not be published to protect privacy.

The administration and board described the audit as a road map for remedial steps and ongoing monitoring rather than proof of systemic noncompliance.