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Queen Anne’s County Public Schools
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POLICY TITLE:Sexual Harassment
ADOPTION/EFFECTIVE DATE:
Adopted: February 1, 1989
Revised: January 12, 1995
Reformatted: October 9, 2013
POLICY/PROCEDURE MANUAL SUMMARY CATEGORY:
Foundations and Basic Commitment
Amendment:
A. Purpose
To establish policy and procedures to handle sexual harassment in the workplace.
B. Policy Statement
1.It is the policy of the Board of Education of Queen Anne’s County School District to maintain a learning and working environment that is free from sexual harassment.
2.It shall be a violation of this policy for any member of the staff to harass another staff member or student through conduct or communication of a sexual nature as defined in Section II. It shall also be a violation of this policy for students to harass other students through conduct or communication of a sexual nature as defined in Section II.
3.If complaints are made, the allegations will be investigated and, if a preponderance of the evidence support such a complaint, immediate action will be taken.
C. Rationale
Sexual harassment is reprehensible. It subverts the mission of the school system by threatening the careers, educational experience and general well-being of every member of the school community. In both obvious and subtle ways, sexual harassment destroys an individual’s ability to function at his or her highest level and has a harmful effect on one’s ability to study, work, or engage in leisure activities within the school and general community.
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D. Definitions
1.Sexual harassment shall consist of unwelcomed sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other inappropriate verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature when made by any member of the school staff to a student, when made by any member of the school staff to another staff member, when made by any student to another student or when made by a student to any staff member when:
- Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment or education, or when:
b.Rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for academic or employment decisions affecting that individual, or when:
c.Such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with an individual’s academic or professional performance or creating an
intimidating, hostile, or offensive employment or educational environment.
2.Sexual harassment, as set forth in Section II-A, may include, but is not limited to the following:
a. verbal, written/graphic, or physical harassment or abuse
b. pressure for sexual activity
c. inappropriate patting, pinching, or brushing against an individual’s body
d. inappropriate staring, ogling, or gazing of a sexual or demeaning nature
e. repeated remarks to a person, with sexual or demeaning implications
f. suggesting or demanding sexual involvement accompanied by implied or
explicit threats concerning one’s grades, job, health, welfare, property, etc.
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E. Implementation Guidelines
- Reporting
a.Any person who alleges sexual harassment by any staff member or student in the school district may complain directly to his or her immediate supervisor, building principal, or Director of Human Resources. Reporting sexual harassment will not reflect upon the individual’s status nor will it affect future employment, grades, or work assignments.
- The right to confidentiality, both of the complainant and of the accused, will be respected consistent with the school district’s legal obligations, and with the necessity to investigate allegations of misconduct and to take corrective action when this conduct has occurred.
2. Sanctions
a.A substantiated charge against a member in the school district shall subject such staff member to disciplinary action. Such actions can include, but are not limited to warning, suspension, or job termination of the offending employee.
b.A substantiated charge against a student in the school district shall subject that student to student disciplinary action. Such action can include, but not be limited to, warning, suspension or expulsion, consistent with the student discipline code.
- Notification
Notice of this policy will be circulated to all schools and departments of the Board of Education of Queen Anne’s County on an annual basis and incorporated in teacher and student handbooks. It will also be distributed to all organizations in the community having cooperative agreements with public schools. Failure to comply with this policy may result in termination of the cooperative agreement.
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F. Evaluation
The Superintendent will provide the Board of Education a review of this policy in 2017. The focus of this review will be the effectiveness of the elements of this policy inassisting the Board in fulfilling its mission.
G. References
Article 49B, Annotated Code of Maryland
Article 27, Sections 464 B and C, Annotated Code of Maryland
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Amended 1991
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P:\PERSONNEL\Board of Education\Bdpolicy\HR Policy Update 2012\Sexual Harassment.doc