McGuireWoods partner Heidi Siegmund spoke with ESEA Now about how school districts and state educational agencies should respond to heightened federal enforcement around employees accused of sexual misconduct. ESEA Now is a digital compliance and learning hub for K-12 school administrators and district staff managing federal education programs.
The article follows a recent U.S. Education Department letter announcing increased compliance monitoring under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The Department warned that it may withhold funding from local school districts that help employees accused of sexual misconduct get jobs in other districts. Federal law requires local educational agencies to maintain policies that prohibit helping a school employee get a new job when the agency knows or has probable cause to believe that employee engaged in sexual misconduct.
Based in Richmond, Virginia, Siegmund advises public and private educational institutions on a variety of issues, including Title IX, Title VI, FERPA and privacy issues, and investigations by the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights. She explained to ESEA Now what stepped-up enforcement under ESEA and Title IX means for school districts.
Siegmund said districts should review their severance agreements to avoid non-disparagement clauses and potentially even “neutral” reference provisions for employees credibly accused of sexual misconduct. In addition, she said, districts should train administrators on Title IX reporting and investigation duties, audit open and closed Title IX files, and consider renegotiating collective bargaining agreements so that accused employees can be removed from work duties while an investigation is pending. She also outlined the limited exceptions to ESEA’s prohibition on helping such employees find new jobs.
“Districts should be evaluating their approach to those kinds of provisions in instances involving allegations, particularly substantiated allegations of sexual misconduct, to make sure that they’re not agreeing to keep the accusations confidential,” she said.