A federal investigation found an Oklahoma school district that came under national scrutiny this year after the fatal overdose of an LGBTQ+ teen repeatedly failed to protect its students from discrimination and harassment, according to an official announcement.
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights said it settled a complaint with Owasso Public Schools Wednesday and will require the district to review and potentially revise its antidiscrimination policies to become compliant with the law. The district has signed a “robust agreement” to ensure students will be better protected under the law in the future, Catherine Lhamon, the assistant secretary for civil rights at the department, said in a statement Wednesday.
In February, Nex Benedict, a 16-year-old student at Owasso High School who identified as gender expansive, died after an overdose that the medical examiner later ruled a suicide. (Gender expansive is an umbrella term that describes people whose gender identity expands beyond traditional gender norms, according to the National Institutes of Health.)
Benedict’s family said the teen’s death came after they endured anti-LGBTQ+ bullying at school. Benedict, a descendant of the Choctaw Nation, used the pronouns he, him, they and them.
The case captured national attention and enraged LGBTQ+ rights advocates.
“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,” Lhamon said.
In an email to USA TODAY, Owasso Public Schools spokesperson Jordan Korphage said the district cooperated fully with the federal government’s probe and is committed to making the recommended changes.
“We are confident that these steps will enhance the safety and inclusivity of our school community,” Korphage said.
Death of Nex BenedictSpurs calls for action, help for LGBTQ teens and their peers
The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights identified repeated instances, over a three-year period, when Owasso Public Schools staff members were told of possible sexual harassment against children but did not respond adequately or at all.
The lack of action “rose to the level that the district’s response to some families’ sexual harassment reports was deliberately indifferent to students’ civil rights,” the department said on Wednesday.
Along with the incident involving Benedict, the Education Department uncovered these violations of Title IX’s protections against harassment:
Sexual harassment prohibited under the department’s Title IX regulation includes unwelcome conduct on the basis of sex “determined by a reasonable person to be so severe, pervasive, and objectively offensive that it effectively denies a person equal access to the recipient’s education program or activity.” The department’s Office of Civil Rights determined that Owasso schools have a practice of handling reports of sexual harassment of students informally and inadequately.
As part of the resolution agreement between the Education Department and Owasso Public Schools, schools will meet individually with affected students and parents to discuss how to file a formal Title IX complaint. The school district must also issue a public anti-harassment statement by February 15, 2025.
Kelley Robinson, president of the national LGBTQ+ civil rights organization Human Rights Campaign, wrote in a statement Wednesday that the resolution agreement “leaves no doubt: the Owasso School District failed Nex Benedict and many other vulnerable students under their care.”
“The evidence shows that officials were well aware of the hostile climate in their schools, yet repeatedly chose indifference and inaction when confronted,” Robinson wrote. “While no accountability measure can fully heal the grief and anger that Nex’s family and this community feels, today, a message has been sent: Trans and non-binary students have worth.”
