SERIES 3000: OPERATIONS, FINANCE, AND PROPERTY
3100 General Operations
3115A Definitions for 3115 Series
A. The following definitions apply to policies 3115-3115H, 4101, 4102, and 5202, which address non-discrimination, anti-harassment, and non-retaliation:
1. “Appeals Officer” means a person who is designated to hear a determination appeal, a dismissal appeal, or a challenge to a Supportive Measures decision. The Appeals Officer must be a District employee and may not be the same person as the Coordinator, Decisionmaker, Investigator, or Informal Resolution Facilitator.
2. “Complainant” means: (1) a student or employee who is alleged to have been subjected to conduct that could constitute Unlawful Discrimination; or (2) a person other than a student or employee who is alleged to have been subjected to conduct that could constitute Unlawful Discrimination and who was participating or attempting to participate in the District’s education program or activity at the time of the alleged Unlawful Discrimination.
3. “Complaint” means an oral or written request to the District that objectively can be understood as a request for the District to investigate and make a determination about alleged Unlawful Discrimination.
4. “Consent” means a voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity by a person legally capable of consenting. Someone who is incapacitated cannot consent. Past consent does not imply future consent. Silence or an absence of resistance does not imply consent. Consent to engage in sexual activity with one person does not imply consent to engage in sexual activity with another. Consent can be withdrawn at any time. Coercion, force, or threat of either invalidates consent. Sexual conduct or romantic relationships between students and District employees, volunteers, or contractors, regardless of age or consent, are prohibited.
5. “Coordinator” means the person(s) designated by the District to coordinate the District’s compliance with state and federal non-discrimination laws. The Coordinator may be the same person as the Investigator and Decisionmaker.
6. “Day” means a day that the District’s central office is open for business, unless otherwise indicated.
7. “Decisionmaker” means the person designated to issue a determination as to whether Unlawful Discrimination occurred. The Decisionmaker may be the same person as the Coordinator and Investigator.
8. “Disciplinary Sanctions” means consequences imposed on a Respondent following a determination that the Respondent engaged in Unlawful Discrimination.
9. “Grievance Procedure” means the process outlined in Policy 3115E.
10. “Informal Resolution Facilitator” means the person designated to facilitate an informal resolution process. The Informal Resolution Facilitator may not be the same person as the Investigator or the Decisionmaker.
11. “Investigator” means the person designated to investigate a complaint of Unlawful Discrimination. The Investigator may be the same person as the Coordinator and Decisionmaker.
12. “Key Role” means Coordinator, Investigator, Decisionmaker, Informal Resolution Facilitator, or Appeals Officer.
13. “Party” means a Complainant or Respondent.
14. “Relevant” means related to the allegations of Unlawful Discrimination under investigation as part of the Grievance Procedure. Questions are relevant when they seek evidence that may aid in showing whether the alleged Unlawful Discrimination occurred, and evidence is relevant when it may aid a Decisionmaker in determining whether the alleged Unlawful Discrimination occurred.
15. “Remedies” means measures provided, as appropriate, to a Complainant or any other person the District identifies as having had their equal access to the District’s education program or activity limited or denied by Unlawful Discrimination. These measures are provided to restore or preserve that person’s access to the District’s education program or activity after the District determines that Unlawful Discrimination occurred.
16. “Respondent” means a person who is alleged to have violated the District’s prohibition on Unlawful Discrimination.
17. “Retaliation” means intimidation, threats, coercion, or discrimination against any person by the District, a student, or an employee or other person authorized by the District to provide aid, benefit, or service under the District’s education program or activity, for the purpose of interfering with any right or privilege secured by the 3115 Policy Series, or because the person has reported information, made a complaint, testified, assisted, or participated or refused to participate in any manner in an investigation, proceeding, or hearing under the 3115 Policy Series. Retaliation does not include a requirement that a District employee participate in a Grievance Procedure.
18. “Supportive Measures” means individualized measures offered as appropriate, as reasonably available, without unreasonably burdening a Complainant or Respondent, not for punitive or disciplinary reasons, and without fee or charge to the Complainant or Respondent to:
a. Restore or preserve that Party’s access to the District’s education program or activity, including measures that are designed to protect the safety of the Parties or the District’s educational environment; or
b. Provide support during the District’s Grievance Procedure or during an informal resolution process.
19. “Unlawful Discrimination” means to treat a person differently or less favorably due to the person’s race, color, national origin, ethnicity, religion, sex (including gender identity or expression, sexual orientation, pregnancy, childbirth, or a related condition), age, height, weight, familial status, marital status, military service, veteran status, genetic information, disability, or any other legally protected basis or any other legally protected class, and includes unlawful harassment and retaliation based on a person’s membership in a protected classification.
B. Examples of Unlawful Harassment
Unlawful harassment may include, but is not limited to:
1. Race, Color, or National Origin Harassment, which is prohibited by Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act. Race, color, or national origin harassment is unwelcome conduct based on a person’s actual or perceived race, color, or national origin that creates a hostile environment or becomes a condition of continued employment. Race includes traits historically associated with race, including, but not limited to, hair texture and protective hairstyles. Race, color, or national origin harassment may take many forms, including slurs, taunts, stereotypes, or name-calling, as well as racially motivated physical threats, attacks, or other hateful conduct.
Under this Policy, harassment based on ethnicity, ancestry, or perceived ancestral, ethnic, or religious characteristics, will be considered race, color, or national origin harassment.
2. Disability Harassment, which is prohibited by the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and the Michigan Persons with Disabilities Civil Rights Act. Disability harassment is unwelcome conduct based on a person’s actual or perceived disability that creates a hostile environment or becomes a condition of continued employment. Disability harassment may take many forms, including slurs, taunts, stereotypes, or name-calling, as well as disability motivated physical threats, attacks, or other hateful conduct.
3. Sex-Based Harassment, which is prohibited by Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, and includes harassment based on sex, sex stereotypes, sex characteristics, pregnancy or related conditions, sexual orientation, and gender identity, that is:
a. Quid Pro Quo Harassment
An employee, agent, or other person authorized by the District to provide an aid, benefit, or service under the District’s education program or activity explicitly or impliedly conditioning the provision of such an aid, benefit, or service on a person’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct;
b. Hostile Environment Harassment
Unwelcome sex-based conduct that, based on the totality of the circumstances, is subjectively and objectively offensive and is so severe or pervasive that it limits or denies a person’s ability to participate in or benefit from the District’s education program or activity (i.e., creates a hostile environment). Whether a hostile environment has been created is a fact-specific inquiry that includes consideration of the following:
i. The degree to which the conduct affected the Complainant’s ability to access the District’s education program or activity;
ii. The type, frequency, and duration of the conduct;
iii. The Parties’ ages, roles within the District’s education program or activity, previous interactions, and other factors about each Party that may be relevant to evaluating the effects of the conduct;
iv. The location of the conduct and the context in which the conduct occurred; and
v. Other sex-based harassment in the District’s education program or activity; or
c. Specific Offenses
i. “Sexual assault” means an offense classified as a forcible or nonforcible sex offense under the uniform crime reporting system of the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
ii. “Dating violence” means violence committed by a person: (i) who is or has been in a social relationship of a romantic or intimate nature with the victim; and (ii) where the existence of such a relationship shall be determined based on a consideration of the following factors: (1) the length of the relationship; (2) the type of relationship; and (3) the frequency of interaction between the persons involved in the relationship.
iii. “Domestic violence” means felony or misdemeanor crimes committed by a person who: (i) is a current or former spouse or intimate partner of the victim under the family or domestic violence laws of the jurisdiction of the District, or a person similarly situated to a spouse of the victim; (ii) is cohabitating, or has cohabitated, with the victim as a spouse or intimate partner; (iii) shares a child in common with the victim; or (iv) commits acts against a youth or adult victim who is protected from those acts under the family or domestic violence laws of the jurisdiction.
iv. “Stalking” means engaging in a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to: (i) fear for the person’s safety or the safety of others; or (ii) suffer substantial emotional distress.
Legal authority: 20 USC 1400 et seq., 1681 et seq.; 29 USC 206 et seq., 621 et seq., 701 et seq., 794, 2601 et seq., 6101 et seq.; 38 USC 4301 et seq.; 42 USC 1983, 2000d et seq., 2000e et seq., 2000ff et seq., 6101 et seq., 12101 et seq.; 29 CFR 1604.1 et seq., 1635; 34 CFR 106.1, et seq.;
MCL 37.1101 et seq., 37.2101 et seq.
Date adopted: 7/16/2024
Date revised:
