The Oklahoma school district that came under fire after non-binary student Nex Benedict died of an overdose has a history of “inadequately” handling reports of sexual harassment and violated Title IX, a federal probe found.
The Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights investigated Owasso Public Schools after receiving a complaint following the death of Benedict in February 2024. The complaint claimed that the school district failed to respond to reports that the tenth grader was being harassed by fellow students — which culminated in a fight in the bathroom. Benedict died the next day; an autopsy concluded the teen died by suicide after a drug overdose. Police ruled the fight to be “mutual combat.”
“Owasso students and their families did not receive the fair and equitable review process from their school district guaranteed to them under Title IX; at worst, some students experienced discrimination Congress has long guaranteed they shall not endure at school,” Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Catherine Lhamon said in a statement.
Owasso Public Schools has a “practice of handling reports of sexual harassment of students informally and inadequately,” OCR wrote Wednesday.
The investigation looked into incidents that occurred in the school district across a three-year span from 2021 through 2024, finding that the district “generally failed to fulfill its Title IX obligations” in those school years.
Title IX is a federal law that requires schools to treat students and employees fairly and equally, and prohibits discrimination based on sex.
The probe found that the school district’s inaction “rose to the level that the district’s response to some families’ sexual harassment reports was deliberately indifferent to students’ civil rights.”
In the incident involving Benedict, OCR found that the school district failed to “respond as required by the Title IX regulations.”
Additionally, the OCR investigation found that the Oklahoma school district failed to respond to reports of at least four sexual harassment incidents. Those alleged incidents include a teacher grooming female students on social media, a “very young elementary school student” who was subjected to repeated harassing remarks that were described as sexual in nature, a male student who made unwelcome sexual comments to a female student, and multiple students being subjected to repeated sex-based slurs, harassment, and physical assault.
The district has entered into a “robust” resolution agreement to ensure the students are protected from harassment, Lhamon said Wednesday.
“The district has signed a robust agreement to assure that students who attend school in the district will be afforded their rights under Title IX, including the right to file a complaint, learn about and receive supportive services individualized to their needs, and benefit from federal nondiscrimination protection when they experience harassment,” Lhamon said.
The resolution agreement commits the district to contacting the parents of students affected by sexual harassment to inform them of the process for filing a Title IX complaint and the availability of supportive measures, develop and implement a recordkeeping system that “adequately and accurately” documents and preserves all records required by Title IX and provide training on Title IX to district staff and students, among other requirements.
The investigation also looked into whether the school district violated two other federal laws that prohibit discrimination against individuals with disabilities. The OCR found “insufficient evidence” that the school violated either of these laws.
Owasso Public Schools “has cooperated fully with OCR during its investigation and is committed to fulfilling the requirements of the Voluntary Resolution Agreement with the utmost seriousness and care, as we believe every student has the right to learn in an environment free from discrimination and harassment,” a spokesperson told The Independent in a statement. “The Voluntary Resolution Agreement signed by OPS reaffirms our dedication to fostering a non-discriminatory and harassment-free environment for all students and ensures the district will continue to receive federal funding which is critical in supporting and serving all of our students.”
“We are confident that these steps will enhance the safety and inclusivity of our school community,” the spokesperson continued.
He also underscored parts of the the resolution agreement that state that signing onto the agreement does not constitute an admission that it was “not in compliance with Title IX and/or the 2020 Title IX regulation” or an admission that the district knew that these harassment reports “were so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that it deprived any student of access to the educational benefits of opportunities provided by the District.”
