Policy subcommittee to refer Title IX, civil-rights procedure updates to full committee

The Fall River Public Schools policy subcommittee voted Nov. 3 to refer proposed updates to the district's Title IX harassment grievance procedure and to the civil-rights grievance policy to the full school committee for consideration.

District staff told the subcommittee the edits are primarily technical changes required after federal Title IX rules reverted to earlier (2020) definitions. "We're essentially updating some minor parts of our procedures to make sure that they're in line with the current federal Title IX regulations," the district's Title IX coordinator said, noting that the FBI's Uniform Crime Reporting terminology changed as well.

Why it matters: the proposed Title IX revisions remove sexual orientation and gender identity from Title IX grievance language because the current federal definition no longer lists those categories under Title IX; the district will add those categories explicitly to its civil-rights grievance procedure to ensure they remain protected at the district level. The coordinator said the Title IX policy's investigatory process, timelines and roles are not being altered, and that the changes largely align local wording with federal and FBI reporting terms.

Key details - Definitions: The policy replaces the term "fondling" with "criminal sexual contact" and adds updated descriptors consistent with FBI terminology, the coordinator said. Staff said other procedural sections (how to file complaints, investigation steps, appeals) remain unchanged. - Coverage shift: Sexual orientation and gender identity references will be removed from the Title IX procedure and appear in the civil-rights grievance policy instead; staff said the district's civil-rights policy will be edited to add any missing references. - Roles and investigators: The draft to be taken to the full committee will include named titles for investigators, decision-makers and appeal officers. Staff said investigators may be internal district staff or contracted third parties "case by case" and appeals historically have been decided by the appeals officer (often the superintendent). - Training: The superintendent said training modules in the district's online system will be updated to reflect any language changes and new hires will complete that training during onboarding.

Committee discussion Members pressed staff for clarity about who maintains the policy manual and flagged apparent duplicate or overlapping policies in the district's manual. One committee member said the manual should be reviewed and consolidated so staff are not confused by multiple, similar documents.

On discipline and thresholds, members debated the range of behaviors that meet Title IX's standard of "severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive." One member said, "It makes me sick that we're taking a step back in protecting children," arguing that some conduct should lead to termination; other members and staff emphasized the legal standard requires severity and pervasiveness and that sanctions are determined case by case.

Formal action The subcommittee made a motion to refer the Title IX harassment grievance procedure to the full committee; the motion was seconded and approved. The panel then moved to the civil-rights grievance procedure (to add or correct references to sexual orientation and gender identity) and likewise voted to refer that item to the full committee.

What's next Staff will prepare a formal draft with named positions for investigators, decision-makers and appeals officers and circulate it to committee members before the full-committee meeting. The referred items will return to the full school committee for review and possible adoption.