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Title IX/UCP compliance officer: 15 complaints this year, two violations found and sanctioned
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Summary
Rebecca Michaelson, the district’s Title IX/UCP compliance officer, told trustees the district has received 15 Title IX/UCP complaints this academic year; 14 are under decision or investigation and two cases were found to have violations with sanctions applied.
The Barstow Unified School District’s Title IX and Uniform Complaint Procedure (UCP) compliance officer updated the board on the district’s complaint workload and process, describing how complaints are triaged, investigated and, when warranted, sanctioned.
"My name is Rebecca Michaelson. I'm the title 9 UCP compliance officer for Barstow Unified School District," she told trustees before outlining the district's approach to investigating complaints and the outside resources the office uses. Michaelson said the district funnels some categories of complaints to pupil services and uses a contracted third‑party investigator, T & G Consulting, for capacity and neutrality.
For the current academic year Michaelson reported 15 Title IX/UCP complaints; 14 of those have a decision made or are under investigation, and she told the board two matters were found to have Title IX/UCP violations and sanctions have been applied. "Of the cases that have been finalized so far this year, we've found 2 title 9 and or UCP violations. Of those 2, the sanctions have already been applied," she said.
Michaelson explained that Title IX carries a high legal threshold — behavior must be severe, pervasive and objectively offensive to qualify — and that some incidents that may appear serious are screened out when the legal elements are not met (for example, concerns involving very young children may lack intent). She described the district’s practice of routing special‑education and student safety complaints to pupil services and complaints about employees to the assistant superintendent for personnel.
The presentation emphasized improving the district’s complaint‑pathway communication and the goal of clearer response timelines. Michaelson said the district is in the process of updating the website and complaint‑submission instructions and that staff will continue to triage some matters at the site level when appropriate.
Ending: Michaelson invited questions and said she would provide trustees with a copy of her slides and follow up materials. The board did not take action on the report; it was presented for information and oversight.
