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.”
