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Policy committee updates nondiscrimination, harassment policies to align with 2025 state and federal changes
Summary
The Wallingford School District policy committee reviewed and corrected multiple nondiscrimination and harassment policies to align with recent Connecticut laws and federal Title IX guidance, updating protected-class language, OCR contact information and complaint timelines.
Speaker 2, a district staff member, outlined a clustered set of nondiscrimination updates the committee reviewed under agenda item 4.1, saying, “These policies are all similar in the revisions that were made. They've been revised to reflect the additions passed during the 2025 legislative session.” The package covered the community policy (0521), personnel (4118.11 / 4218.11) and student-facing policies in the 5000 series.
The revisions incorporate Public Act 25-139, which Speaker 2 said “adds assault victim and human trafficking victims as protected classes under Connecticut's anti-discrimination laws.” The packet also updates the district’s guidance about where to file complaints: the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights contact information was revised because the Boston OCR office has closed.
On federal rules, Speaker 2 told the committee the personnel policy had been adjusted after a January 9, 2025 federal district court ruling vacated the 2024 Title IX regulations and OCR announced it would enforce the 2020 Title IX rules. “Boards of education discontinued the use of those policies and now follow the 2020 Title IX regulations,” Speaker 2 said, and the personnel policy language was rewritten to align with that framework.
Committee members pressed for consistent redlines across the community, personnel and student versions after Speaker 3 flagged a cross-out in the community policy that removed a gender/gender-identity phrase. Speaker 2 committed to double-checking the draft against the model counsel provided and to correct inconsistencies before the documents advance.
Several technical edits were also noted: changes to assault definitions to follow the National Incident-Based Reporting System manual, replacement of the word “fondling” with criminal-contact terminology, and the addition of the possibility that third-party contractors may be used to investigate complaints. Speaker 2 said the regulations already reference third-party investigators and that the policy language had been updated for clarity.
Next steps: Speaker 2 will verify the track changes against the legal model and make consistent edits across versions before presenting final drafts to the instructional committee in December.
