Virginia Beach Schools Hit with Federal Title IX Violations

The federal Department of Education says Virginia Beach’s public schools broke Title IX rules for several years. The civil rights office found that officials did not properly look into or record reports of sexual misconduct involving students. The review covered the years 2017 through 2020 and led to a settlement last month.

During that span, 697 incidents were reported, ranging from student-on-student harassment to staff-student abuse. Among them were 117 cases of sexual harassment, 88 cases of indecent exposure by a student, one forcible rape, and eight cases of inappropriate touching or sexual intercourse between an employee and a student. The district could only produce 12 full investigation reports. Many files were incomplete, and the school system treated most complaints as discipline matters. It also failed to inform both sides of the outcomes and let lower-level administrators handle the probes.

Superintendent Donald Robertson Jr. signed the agreement on September 14. The deal requires the division to make seven regulatory changes to meet federal standards. Robertson said the district was already following evolving rules and that other divisions face similar challenges. The case also reflects recent shifts in Title IX. The Trump administration updated the 1972 law in 2020 to ban harassment more clearly and give victims more say. The Biden team reviewed the law starting in 2021 and expanded protections for gender identity and sexual orientation in 2024. A later Trump administration then rolled back those expansions and restored the 2020 version.

Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Kimberly Richey praised the district’s cooperation. She noted that Virginia Beach was not alone; the education department said about 20 other districts are under similar scrutiny. The ongoing investigations highlight the difficulty of ensuring consistent handling of sexual misconduct across the country.