Letter from the Office of Civil Rights
by W.S. Landis, Superintendent USD459
July 27, 2010
As the superintendent Skip Landis opened a letter in Monday’s mail, he thought the worst again, as another letter from the Office of Civil Rights would require additional student numbers and team information as the past letters have requested. After reading through the three page letter the key information was the statement that mentioned the closing of this file for Bucklin USD 459 as we had finally met the criteria and we were gender equitable in our interscholastic sports for female and male athletes.
On September 13th, 2006 a complaint was filed alleging discrimination on the basis of sex against Bucklin USD 459 in regard to not offering athletic programs to accommodate the interest and abilities of female athletes in regard to what is offered to male athletes at that time. OCR started requesting information in regard to activities offered to both female and male students, participation numbers, and numbers of female and male students in the high school. Finally in March of 2007 the superintendent wrote the OCR and requested guidance in resolving the on going investigation. The OCR agreed that if the district would develop a Plan of Resolution Agreement they would review it and offer their plan to correct the complaint allegations. The OCR, with modification, approved a plan in which female high school sports in the league were surveyed and also Bucklin High School female students would be surveyed in regard to what program offerings they desired. The survey also included our present co-curricular offerings and a number of other activity offerings. As the completion of the first survey was tabulated our high school female students by majority chose swimming as their first choice, followed by tennis, and then bowling. The sport which was the cause of the alleged discrimination was softball and this was the high school females sixth choice. This information was forwarded to the OCR and after review they wanted additional information surveyed from our high school females. A second survey was requested because in the 2008-09 school year the board voted to drop Boys Baseball in a move to equalize the offerings between female and male athletes. After the second survey was completed and tabulated, another sport was their first choice. This information was forwarded to the OCR along with a timeline to implement a program and locate a coach.
The last information the OCR requested was on April 15th of this year. This information was in regard to spring sport offerings at the high school level and number of male and female participants.
On July 22nd the OCR mailed a letter indicating that the file was closed in regard to the sex discrimination in regard to equal participation by female and male high school students at Bucklin High School.
