Q&A Regarding Title IX Regulations

Sexual harassment under the new Title IX regulations may include the following:

• Sexual harassment where an employee conditions some type of aid, benefit, or service of the District on the student's participation in unwelcome sexual conduct
• Sexual harassment where someone engages in unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex that is severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive
• Sexual assault
• Dating violence on the basis of sex
• Domestic violence on the basis of sex
• Stalking on the basis of sex

You have a right to report an incident to your school, the Title IX Coordinator, and/or to local law enforcement. You can report by sending an email, by telephone, in writing, or by contacting the Title IX Coordinator.

You can send a message to the Title IX Coordinator at any time of the day:

Robert Andrade - Title IX Coordinator & Compliance Officer
Palo Alto Unified School District
25 Churchill Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94306
(650) 833-4248
titleixcoordinator@pausd.org

Robert Andrade – Civil Rights & Legal Affairs Coordinator
Palo Alto Unified School District
25 Churchill Ave
Palo Alto, CA 94306
(650) 833-4248
titleixcoordinator@pausd.org

After reporting to the school and/or the Title IX Coordinator, the District will offer you Supportive Measures. The Title IX regulations define Supportive Measures as non-disciplinary, non-punitive, individualized services that the District can offer as appropriate, as reasonably available, and without fee or charge to the person targeted by the alleged harassment and to the person accused of the alleged harassment. The Supportive Measures are provided to restore or preserve equal access to your education program or activity, without unreasonably burdening the other party.

If a complaint has been filed against you, the District will offer you Supportive Measures to preserve equal access to your education program or activity without unreasonably burdening the other party.

Supportive Measures may include, as appropriate: Counseling, referrals to health, mental health, and/or wellness services, extensions of deadlines or other course-related adjustments, modifications of class or school-related activity schedules, campus escort services, mutual restrictions on contact between the parties, increased security and monitoring of certain areas of the campus, and other similar measures.

Yes, the District will also consider appropriate Supportive Measures to assist the parties in maintaining equal access to their school-related activities.

Please notify your principal and/or the Title IX Coordinator if you feel your Supportive Measures are not helping or if you are struggling to maintain equal access to your education program or activity. Supportive Measures can be adjusted as reasonably necessary to provide equal access to your educational program or activity.

The Supportive Measures will continue throughout the entire complaint process. If the decision-maker finds that Respondent[2] is responsible for sexual harassment, the Supportive Measures likely will be adjusted for the Complainant[3] to eliminate the harassment, remedy the harm caused by the harassment, and prevent future harassment. The Respondent's Supportive Measures likely will be revised to focus on corrective and/or disciplinary actions based on the decision. If the Respondent is not found to be responsible for sexual harassment, the District may continue Supportive Measures for both parties in order to ensure they have equal access to their education program and activities, as appropriate under the circumstances.

Yes, you may have someone present with you during the complaint process. Title IX calls this person your "Advisor." Your Advisor may be a parent, guardian, family member, attorney, or other adult who is not an enrolled student in the District. Your Advisor may be present with you for any meeting or interview related to the Title IX complaint process. However, an Advisor may be subject to reasonable restrictions as set forth by the District. Respondents may also have an Advisor to support them through a meeting, interview, and other aspects of the complaint process.

Maybe, but not initially. The Title IX Coordinator will send the Complainant and Respondent a Notice of Investigation and Allegations after a formal complaint is filed. The Notice is sent to the Parties[4] so they know how to prepare for and participate in the Title IX complaint process. For example, in the Notice, the Title IX Coordinator will describe your allegations against a Respondent with sufficient detail known at the time and with enough advance notice so the Respondent can prepare a response before the initial interview. Those details likely will include the identity of the Complainant and Respondent, the date and location of the alleged incident(s), and the conduct that may be considered sexual harassment. The Notice will also remind everyone that they cannot retaliate against anyone who brings a complaint or participates in a complaint process, and they cannot tamper with the evidence.

Yes and no. It is the District's job to maintain confidentiality of the identity of anyone who has reported sexual harassment, made a formal complaint of sexual harassment, any individual reported to be a perpetrator of sexual harassment, any Respondent, and any witness. In other words, the District cannot make these identities public. However, the identities of the Complainant, witnesses, and Respondent to the Parties and their Advisor will be revealed to others who are part of the confidential complaint process so that the Parties have full opportunity to review and respond to the evidence before a decision is made. Also, the Parties, their Advisors, and their families will receive information about the status of the investigation as it moves forward. When an investigation involves witnesses, those witnesses may learn about the identities of the Parties when they are asked relevant and directly related questions about the complaint, but those witnesses are directed to maintain confidentiality. In some rare circumstances, the District could be ordered to release confidential information about a complaint process by a government agency or court. If this happens, the District would let you know ahead of time if information about the complaint process must be released. In summary, the District does not release confidential information to the public about the complaint process, but the Title IX team may release confidential information about the allegations or responses to the allegations to those within the complaint process in order to conduct a fair and thorough process.

No. If an investigator wants to talk to your counselor or therapist, the investigator must ask you for your written consent before talking to that person. Consent is also required if the investigator wants to look at your counseling, medical, or therapy records. You do not have to turn over those records unless you consent to the request in writing.[5]

The District will not release a Title IX investigation report to the public unless required by state or federal law or a court order. In most situations, if the District is legally required to release an investigation report, the District will notify the Parties and redact the names of the Parties, the names of the witnesses, and other confidential or private information contained in the report.

To some extent, yes. The District will not restrict the ability of a Complainant or Respondent to discuss the allegations under investigation or to gather and present relevant information. However, the Complainant, Respondent, and their Advisors may not reveal confidential information obtained during the investigation, and they cannot threaten, coerce, harass, or otherwise retaliate against each other and people involved, or potentially involved, in the investigation.