Nex Benedict's Oklahoma school district violated federal law, investigation finds
Owasso Public Schools, the district where Nex Benedict died following a fight at school, violated federal law, according to the U.S. Department of Education.
The Oklahoma school district where a transgender student died this year after an altercation in a bathroom violated federal law by mishandling sexual harassment allegations, according to an investigation by the federal Education Department.
The department’s Office of Civil Rights opened an investigation into Owasso Public Schools in March following a complaint from the Human Rights Campaign, the country’s largest LGBTQ advocacy organization. HRC alleged that the district failed to investigate sex-based harassment that may have contributed to the death of Nex Benedict, 16, a trans student who died Feb. 8, a day after a fight at Owasso High School.
A photograph of Nex Benedict is projected at a candlelight service in Oklahoma City on Feb. 24.Nate Billings for The Oklahoman / USA Today Network fileBenedict’s death was ruled a suicide by a medical examiner, and his name became a rallying cry among LGBTQ advocates who argued that state legislation and rhetoric from local officials targeting trans students created an unsafe school environment. Benedict, who used he and they pronouns, told a police officer that the fight in a school bathroom started after he threw water on students who were making fun of him and his friend for what they were wearing. Benedict’s mother, Sue, told the U.K. newspaper The Independent shortly after his death that Benedict had informed her he was bullied because of his gender identity.
After an investigation, the Education Department alleged that Owasso Public Schools “has a practice of handling reports of sexual harassment of students informally and inadequately,” it announced Wednesday, and that it violated Title IX, a federal law that protects against sex-based discrimination in federally funded schools and academic programs.
The department said the district failed to respond to sexual harassment allegations repeatedly over three years, in violation of Title IX regulations that were implemented in 2020. The new regulations require district staff members to explain the process to file Title IX complaints or promptly contact complainants to discuss supportive measures like counseling or schedule changes. The investigation found Owasso Public Schools’ “response to some families’ sexual harassment reports was deliberately indifferent to students’ civil rights.”
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