Title IX

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fair, transparent, and reliable process that includes trained, unbiased decision makers to evaluate all relevant and not otherwise impermissible evidence.

■ ■ Empower and support students and families. The final rule protects against retaliation for students, employees, and others who exercise their Title IX rights. The rule requires schools to communicate their nondiscrimination policies and procedures to all students, employees, and other participants in their education programs so that students and families understand their rights. The rule supports the right of parents and guardians to act on behalf of their elementary school and secondary school children. And the rule protects student privacy by prohibiting schools from making disclosures of personally identifiable information with limited exceptions.

It was communicated to both boards that the new policies would take effect after July 31 of this year. However, the districts would need to keep the old policies on-hand in case a complaint was filed for an incident that occurred before August 1, 2024.

In a memo from Neola to the Abbotsford School Board, the district’s contracted policy firm detailed some of the differences between the previous policy (Policy 2266) and the new policy (Policy 2264).

“It is important to notice that new Policy 2264 is broader in scope than Policy 2266. Whereas the 2020 Title IX regulations focused on sexual harassment, the 2024 Final Rule covers all forms of sex discrimination, not just ‘sex-based harassment’ – e.g., claims of unequal athletic opportunities, admissions discrimination, discrimination in courses or academic programs (i.e., excluding students from certain classes or programs based on their sex), pregnancy discrimination, unequal treatment based on parental, family or marital status, discrimination in employment (including in hiring, promotion, and compensation), and retaliation,” the firm said in the memo.

Neola also stated that definitions had changed to encompass different styles of complaints of sexual harassment and to identify clarifications on what a complainants and hostile environment harassment.

The two boards took two different approaches while passing the regulations. The Abbotsford School Board met with the district’s attorney Tony Renning from Renning, Lewis & Lacy Law Firm during closed session with respect to litigation the board could become involved in, while the Colby School Board discussed the Title IX regulations in open session.

Abbotsford passed the regulation changes by a count of 5-2 with board members Eric Brodhagen and Kraig Schindler voting against the updates.

At the Colby meeting, the board decided to unanimously pass the new Title IX policy. Superintendent Patrick Galligan explained the changes and the need to exercise a section of the bylaws that would allow the policy to go into effect on August 1 without a second reading being approved by the board before it was put into place.

“We contract with Neola for just this kind of service,” Galligan stated. “The Biden administration finalized these rules and they said by August all schools have to have a policy in place that reflects the new changes. Neola, this is where they are good at helping us out. Without us having to rewrite a new policy, we can bring this forward. I did have to make changes. Normally we would bring this to the policy committee and have you guys go through and make changes or suggestions, those kinds of things.”

However, there was no policy meeting scheduled between the time that the district received the new policy from Neola and the July meeting, and with the policy needing to be in place by August 1, district administration and the board had to veer slightly from their regular procedure.

“We are using a special part of our bylaws to do this tonight. If you vote to approve, this will put this in action as of August 1,” Galligan continued. “We will then reinforce the decision next month.”

He also noted that the previous policy regarding Title IX will be retained for any cases that are brought up that occurred on or before July 31, 2024, as those incidents will be handled under that policy. Galligan noted that the old policy will probably stay on the books until the statute of limitations runs out on potential incidents that would have occurred before the new policy was established.

Questions of what this new policy would look like in practice and if it potentially puts the district or staff in a position where they would be more liable were raised briefly before it was eventually approved.

“The one thing that I saw while looking through there, it looks like the school district has to be a little more observant in recognizing harassment and discrimination. Is that different?” board member Teri Hanson asked.

“I would say that the expectation is that there is a little higher standard that we are looking for, yes,” Galligan said. “I think that’s one of the ways in which the new rules kind of put more on us, is a fair way to say it.”

“We will certainly educate our staff and talk with them at our staff meetings and do some training and other things as well on all of these topics,” Galligan continued. “But at the same time, the standard that I remember from the very beginning of my educational career is reasonable improvement and I think we still operate under that standard.”

“I can assure you that in almost every situation where Title IX compliance would come in, the first call would be to the compliance officers and the next one would be our lawyer,” he added.