STATE

Over 250 cases of sex abuse reported in Florida schools; under 60 Title IX complaints filed

Investigation finds lack of education on student civil rights leads to unreported abuse

Think about being 17.

Think about being awkward, energetic, strong. Coming into your own body.

Now, think about that teacher. He calls you "gorgeous," maybe touches you in a familiar way. He talks about your body in a way that makes you uncomfortable. Off-kilter.

While that’s not criminal, it is sex-based harassment. There’s a powerful federal law that could protect you — and others.

But Florida's disinterest in ensuring districts follow federal law has hamstrung that very law and puts children at risk of enduring further harassment and abuse, a USA TODAY Network-Florida investigation has found.

While Florida ranks 12th in the nation for its K-12 student population size, it is fourth from the bottom in use of Title IX, the federal law that protects students from sex discrimination.

Data analyzed by The News-Press/Naples Daily News, part of the USA TODAY Network-Florida, shows local media outlets reported on hundreds — nearly six times — more cases of student sexual abuse by educators over the past decade than Title IX investigators ever saw.

Experts call the discrepancy alarming, and say it indicates Florida’s public schools and legislators are failing their students and parents by not giving them the tools to keep children safe. The results are prompting questions from leaders.

Although Title IX (pronounced "Title Nine") is responsible for increasing women’s and girls’ access to organized sports, the law’s wording goes much further, protecting anyone in federally funded educational spaces from sexual assault, harassment and voyeurism, among other offenses.

The law states that "no person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance."

What is Title IX?And how does it protect students from sex-based discrimination at school?

More:How to file a Title IX complaint, and what to include

Title IX complaints and investigations can result in firing or expulsion of students or educators who sexually harass or abuse students or staff. Even if law enforcement is investigating a reported assault, Title IX experts say survivors should still file federal complaints — and schools should still investigate their complaints.

Not all instances of sex discrimination that fall under Title IX, like harassment, are considered criminal. And those that are may never see a conviction. Experts note that the burden of proof in criminal investigations is high.

By filing a Title IX complaint, survivors can achieve some measure of protection from their harasser, even if law enforcement fails to build a criminal case. And Title IX-specific supportive measures, like changing a class to avoid contact with the accused can ease fear of retaliation, which often deters people from reporting harassment.

Finally, experts say Title IX investigations can help schools identify how to prevent future assaults or harassment.

But Florida’s public school students rarely use the protections the law offers from sexual violence or harassment, and experts say the fact that students don’t know about them is to blame.

"If there's such a difference between the national numbers and Florida's numbers … are we not letting people know what their rights are (so they can) make complaints and make them in the right place?" asked Charol Shakeshaft, a national expert in federal law and a professor at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Charol Shakeshaft

"Why aren't these being recorded?"

Although the state is not required by law to spend its own funds on Title IX, states that have passed laws around improving understanding of Title IX have seen increased reports.

Florida state Rep. Anna Eskamani, D-Orlando, introduced two bills in the past three years in an attempt to fund Title IX coordinators in public school districts. Both failed. She called out state lawmakers for inaction on improving understanding of student rights under Title IX and shuttering programs on sexual health that helped students stand up for themselves.

"I feel like we’re moving backwards in Florida," Eskamani said.

Why use Title IX?

Experts say a major reason to file a Title IX complaint is that criminal convictions from law enforcement are few, given a high burden of proof must be met. At least through Title IX, survivors can attain some measure of protection that can allow them to finish out their time at the school without enduring further harassment or abuse. They may even see some justice.

Without hard proof, law enforcement officers and even child abuse investigators typically find claims of sexual harassment or abuse unsubstantiated, according to Laura McGuire, a Florida-based Title IX consultant and trainer who uses they/them pronouns.

"In most situations, harassment based on sex doesn’t fall under police jurisdiction but it does exactly fall under Title IX," McGuire said. "It’s extremely hard to get criminal prosecution on any kind of interpersonal violence. You have to have extensive injuries with DNA evidence that you can go to a hospital and document immediately."

"That’s the time we can see real justice … and that is a phenomenally small percentage of situations."

That leads to "passing the trash," when an adult does the harassing, she said. The phrase refers to educators who are suspended or fired by their school district, but retain their state-issued teaching license. That gives them the ability to get a new position as an educator, and prey on children again.

When it comes to peer-to-peer violence, McGuire said police "won’t do anything to a kid for being creepy," that there has to be physical evidence of abuse. The bar is lower under Title IX.

McGuire said they were not aware of the percentage of peers or educators who are caught and punished after sexually abusing or harassing a child, but noted that research by the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network suggests the average percentage of sex offenders who spend any time behind bars is just 2%.

"The boldest of the bold are the ones that get caught," they said. "Not the majority."

‘They don’t know what Title IX means’

Various experts, including multiple lawyers, a Title IX coordinator, Title IX trainers and researchers, told The News-Press/Naples Daily News that the federal law is commonly underutilized, but said the disparity in Florida’s numbers was cause for concern. They called for better education around the law so students, parents and teachers know their rights and the rights of their children.

One Florida school district, Collier County Public Schools, filed zero Title IX complaints dealing with student sexual harassment or violence between December 2012 and December 2022. Yet, between 2014 and 2021, local news media reported five incidents of sexual abuse of a student by district educators.

Here, Parkside Elementary stands out.

In February 2019, two third-grade girls accused a teacher of groping them both the year before. Within hours, Hector Manley, a 31-year-old teacher at the Naples school, was arrested and charged.

Soon, he faced nearly two dozen accusations of sexual assault or battery on prepubescent children, all of whom had been in his care at one point or another.

Investigators’ documents show at least five children complained to parents about Manley’s attention in the months leading up to his arrest. Yet none of their parents made a Title IX complaint.

An attorney suing the school district on behalf of three families whose children Manley assaulted said that in some cases, parents did not know there were federal laws in place to protect their children.

If they had filed a Title IX complaint, the district would have been required to yank Manley from the classroom while investigating. Without Title IX, any support is provided at the discretion of the district.

Collier County Public Schools Executive Director of Communications Chad Oliver says the district followed Title IX’s requirements. He said it posts information for parents and students in prominent areas, trains staff in the federal law, links to the training and notice of nondiscrimination on the district homepage and has a notice in its student guides, such as the student code of conduct.

The information is also available in Spanish and Haitian Creole, the languages mainly spoken by Parkside parents. Students who survived Manley's abuse typically spoke Spanish at home.

McGuire said the abuse that took place at Parkside is a perfect example of how following the letter of the law when it comes to Title IX just isn’t enough.

"Even parents who speak English at home and have college degrees don’t know Title IX applies here," McGuire said. "You have to one: be literate, and many adults are not in the U.S. Two: you have to be able to read a legalistic level of English. Many parents, especially in the state of Florida, do not.

"This is what predators do: they test the environment. They know what families won’t know what to do, what kids won’t be focused on, protected, believed, and they prey on them."

Attorney Gregg Schwartz said posting that information on walls or in a student guide just isn’t enough.

"(These parents) are not skilled in federal legislation," Schwartz said. "They don’t know what Title IX means. Unless the school tells them their rights, they wouldn’t know to do it."

Schwartz said he believes the state needs to legislate mandatory education around rights and Title IX so students and parents know how to navigate the system better. He declined a request to speak with the parents he represents.

Numbers show that Title IX was underutilized

Consider this:

  • Just 59 Title IX complaints for sexual harassment or abuse in Florida were filed with the U.S. Department of Education between 2012 and 2022.
  • 206 teachers, coaches and administrators were disciplined or lost their state-issued licenses after abusing, sexually harassing or assaulting a child during that time.
  • Florida media reported on 279 different cases of educator sexual abuse of a student between 2014 and 2021, according to anti-abuse nonprofit Stop Educator Sexual Abuse Misconduct & Exploitation, or S.E.S.A.M.E.

The News-Press/Naples Daily News requested a list from the U.S. Department of Education of Title IX reports of sexual harassment and abuse in K-12 public school districts between December 7, 2012 and December 7, 2022.

The majority of Florida's counties had few — if any.

The News-Press/Naples Daily News used the Department of Education’s most recent K-12 enrollment data to calculate the rate of complaints per 100,000 students, to better compare across states with different population sizes. It found that Florida, with 2.72 million enrolled in K-12 schools for the 12th-largest student population, has the fourth-lowest case rate of Title IX complaints and investigations. Only Utah, Tennessee and Nebraska ranked lower.

Florida’s K-12 population is roughly 1 million students larger than all three states combined.

New York state, with 2.73 million students and the 11th-largest student body population, saw nearly twice the complaints Florida did.

Only 23 of Florida’s 73 public school districts and standalone schools saw Title IX complaints filed. That number includes all 67 county districts, as well as the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind, Florida Virtual School and lab schools with Florida State University, Florida A&M University, Florida Atlantic University, and the University of Florida.

Yet between 2014 and 2021, Florida media outlets reported on 279 cases of educator sexual misconduct involving K-12 public school students, including assaults, harassment and voyeurism. All merited a Title IX complaint.

Those cases originated from 47 of the 73 districts and standalone schools, nearly twice the number that filed complaints.

The data provided covered only state, district, date and reason for complaint. Further detail of Title IX complaints, including investigations and corrective measures requested from districts were deemed confidential and records requests were denied.

Records on educators who lost their licenses or were disciplined for sexual abuse, harassment or child abuse between 2012 and 2022 tells a similar story. The Florida Department of Education listed more than 200 teachers, coaches and administrators that fell into one of those categories.

Experts say low reporting rates cause for alarm

Maha Ibrahim is the senior attorney for California-based gender justice nonprofit Equal Rights Amendment, which represents people in gender-based discrimination lawsuits.

Approximately 17,600 public K-12 school districts are subject to Title IX nationwide. But in her experience, they are often out of compliance with the law.

"This law has been in process for 50 years and (K-12 districts) have never been in compliance with it," Ibrahim said. "They’ve done nothing but hide from it and hide from parents and the public."

In many cases, Ibrahim noted that schools preferred to be out of compliance with Title IX rather than put in the effort to follow the law or change the school’s culture. Instead, she said, administrators would "wring their hands and say it’s too complicated to follow."

"They can’t be saying Title IX is too complicated," Ibrahim said. "They must be saying child sex abuse is too complicated. At best, they’re saying sex discrimination is unfortunate but I don’t care to make it stop."

Under Title IX, if federally funded institutions don’t comply with the law they can lose their funding, but experts The News-Press/Naples Daily News spoke with said they had never heard of the federal government pulling a public school district’s funding for Title IX violations.

Ibrahim encouraged schools to issue climate surveys, improve mental health services and use other restorative measures.

"When you address the culture of sexual harassment on the front end, you have less to deal with in the long run," Ibrahim said.

"Title IX is the floor, it’s the right," she continued.

Not the ceiling.

‘Barriers and walls and silence’

McGuire, the Florida Title IX trainer, predicted in a January 2022 interview with The News-Press/Naples Daily News that Florida’s complaint and investigation numbers would be abnormally low for its student population size.

"In Florida, survivors are met with barriers and walls and silence," McGuire said.

When The News-Press/Naples Daily News received the federal data nearly a year later, McGuire was proven correct.

McGuire suggested the enormous discrepancy between media reports and official complaints was at least in part due to the fact that Florida has no state laws upholding funding for Title IX coordinator positions or requiring students to be educated in Title IX.

As a result, many don’t know their rights. Experts say those who do often have a hard time filing a complaint through their district thanks to overworked and underprepared coordinators and confusing procedures.

In many states, as in Florida, smaller and midsize schools tend to lump the Title IX coordinator position in with another position, which, Shakeshaft said, "dilutes the power and the effectiveness of ... that position."

In the most egregious of situations, she added, the Title IX coordinator doesn’t even realize they are the Title IX coordinator.

Lack of resources isn’t the only thing keeping Title IX complaints low, however.

According to Shakeshaft, some districts don’t want the negative attention that comes with a Title IX complaint. Unless the words “Title IX” are specifically invoked by a complainant, the claim of discrimination or harassment goes unreported at the state or federal level, she said.

The low number of official complaints may also stem from a reluctance on behalf of officials to make their district appear anything less than idyllic, said state teachers union Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar.

Appropriate investigations would allow any patterns or inappropriate cultures to be addressed fully and accurately, he said.

Florida Education Association (FEA) President Andrew Spar

Spar said educating administrators, faculty and staff on the process could lessen abuse and discrimination, and suggested schools incorporate training on Title IX into mandatory reporting trainings.

"I think we often hear about how situations of sexual harassment are not always reported … because of victim shaming and such," Spar said. "Anything that we can do to improve the process of reporting sexual violence should be implemented."

In Florida, all adults are also mandatory reporters, meaning if they become aware of abuse they must report it to the Department of Children and Families. Failing to report suspected child abuse is a third-degree felony that carries a statute of limitations of three years in Florida, but experts say violators of the law are rarely prosecuted.

Although witnesses to sex-based harassment can file a Title IX complaint, they are not required to do so by law.

Political barriers, politicized language

Although McGuire has penned two different appropriations bills since 2020 through Eskamani’s office that would allocate a small amount in funding annually for Title IX education –– approximately $75,000 –– neither was successful.

Eskamani said she felt, in part, the bills died because of her colleagues’ prevailing attitude toward sexual assault survivors, spurred by backlash against the #MeToo movement.

"That created an environment where those that have experienced sexual assault are (perceived as) lying about it, dramatizing it and just can’t be trusted," Eskamani said. "I think that still simmers in political spaces, at least in this chamber."

State Rep. Anna Eskamani

Eskamani said she never saw outright opposition to either of the appropriations bills, but instead a marked lack of interest from Republican leadership that left the bills dead in the water.

Requests to speak with both former and current PreK-12 appropriations subcommittee chairs Randy Fine, R-Palm Bay, and Josie Tomkow, R-Polk City, were not returned.

National research highlights that Republicans and Democrats are far apart when it comes to perception of women’s safety from sexual violence and the efficacy of Title IX.

According to a 2022 poll on Title IX conducted jointly by the National Women’s History Museum and the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research, while the majority of people approve of Title IX, less than half of men and just 17% of women report progress toward equal treatment of women when it comes to protections against violence.

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to perceive more progress in these areas.

The current political climate has eroded even more protections in place for Florida’s children, as leaders restrict programs that taught children about how to advocate for and protect themselves from sexual harm, Eskamani said.

Most recently, Eskamani said, Republican lawmakers have falsely employed child sex abuse accusations against the LGBTQ community, ultimately seeking ways to push through bills that leave children vulnerable to abuse.

Real steps, she said, have not been taken to prevent real abuse.

Instead, she said, through passage of bills such as the so-called “Don’t Say Gay” bill, they've pushed schools to remove education on consent, “good touch/bad touch” and reporting sexual assault from the curriculum.

"It’s complicated to address the prevalence of child abuse," Eskamani said. "It’s easier to deflect and pretend that LGBTQ+ people are ‘groomers’ and the problem.

"When that happens, you tend to ignore the actual problem."

Kate Cimini is an investigative reporter for the USA TODAY Network-Florida. She primarily writes for The News-Press/Naples Daily News. You can reach her at kcimini@news-press.com or 239-207-9369.