Letter to Richard A. Carranza, Chancellor of the New York City Department of Education - Queens Elected Officials Demand Answers About Harassment and Sexual Assault of Students at Marie Curie Middle School (M.S. 158) in Bayside

Letter

Dear Chancellor Carranza:

We write to share our urgent concerns regarding multiple cases of sexual assault and harassment within your schools.

Recently, several disturbing reports of harassment and sexual assault have surfaced at Marie Curie Middle School in Bayside, NY. In one case, despite repeated harassment occurrences, it seems there was a clear failure of notifying appropriate individuals, including the victims' own parents. These incidences bring immense and immediate concern regarding your oversight and process to protect your students.

As such, we request prompt answers to the following questions:

1. Per your 15-page regulation on student-to-student sexual harassment, are designated mandatory reporters, teachers and school staff, reporting incidents within 24 hours? Are schools filing reports to you within the required two days? After the principal/designee investigates all claims, are they filing the report within 10 days to the state? What process have you implemented to investigate if all responsible parties are following the required process in these cases of sexual assault?

2. What process have you implemented to investigate why parents were not notified of the trauma inflicted upon their children?

3. How will you improve your process to provide timely feedback to parents/guardians after each sexual assault allegation?

4. The NYC Ed Dept regulation indicates: "When one student uses a pattern of threatened or actual physical, sexual, and/or emotional abuse to control a dating partner or in cases of sexual violence, the school should refer the victim and the accused student to separate appropriate school or community-based agencies for counseling, support, and education." When the victim and the accused student are transferred to a new school, what measures are put in place for the victim and their family to heal from the trauma, and for the accused student to receive help?

Further, New York State has the most aggressive policies in the nation, "the Enough is Enough Law," to fight against sexual assault on college campuses, but violations of Title IX are a dire problem in primary and secondary schools as well. To produce lasting changes, we urge you to work with state leaders to confront harassment and sexual assault as a priority issue that is threatening the wellbeing of your students every day. New York City schools must augment its response and investigative services, training for teachers and staff, prevention education, crisis support, and overall communications.

You are charged with the responsibility to lead the largest school system in the nation, educating 1.1 million students in over 1,800 schools. Your fundamental priority must be ensuring a safe and equitable education for each of your students. We urge you to uphold your obligation to work with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights to vigorously enforce Title IX law that prohibits sex discrimination at federally funded institutions.

We strongly urge you to make immediate changes to your investigative processes for harassment and sexual assault cases so schools are, once again, a place of learning without fear. After all, a single victim is one too many.

Sincerely,