|
TRENTON
-- Attorney General Stuart Rabner announced
today that the Division on Civil Rights
has issued a Finding of Probable Cause against
the Jackson Township school district for
allegedly allowing to prevail a hostile
environment in which a bisexual student
was repeatedly harassed and threatened because
of his sexual orientation and national origin.
Named as sole Respondent in the Finding
of Probable Cause document is the Jackson
Township School District in Ocean County.
Former Jackson student Daniel Jacobson,
a self-described bisexual born in Honduras,
and Division on Civil Rights Director J.
Frank Vespa-Papaleo are the Complainants.
A Finding of Probable Cause means the state
has concluded its preliminary investigation
and determined there is sufficient evidence
to support a reasonable suspicion that the
conduct of the Jackson school district violated
the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination
(LAD).
The Finding of Probable Cause comes in the
wake of a state Supreme Court ruling in
February that, under the LAD, students are
entitled to the same protections from discrimination
and harassment as their adult counterparts
are in the workplace. The Supreme Court
ruled that school district officials are
obligated under the LAD to take “reasonable”
steps to address severe or pervasive harassment
of students when they are aware of it. The
ruling came in response to an appeal by
the Toms River school district of a Division
on Civil Rights decision involving a former
student who was repeatedly bullied because
of his perceived homosexuality. The Division
determined that the former student had valid
cause for action against Toms River schools
under the LAD.
Complainant Jacobson attended Jackson Memorial
High School from September 2002 through
his graduation in June 2006. According to
an investigation by the Division on Civil
Rights, school officials learned as early
as 2003 that Jacobson was being subjected
to alleged harassment due to his sexual
orientation and national origin.
Subsequently, the alleged harassment of
Jacobson continued. In November 2005, Jacobson
requested a class transfer due to persistent
jokes and derogatory comments made about
his sexual orientation and national origin
by fellow students. On one occasion, the
state’s investigation found, two students
shouted a derogatory term denoting a homosexual
in the presence of a guidance counselor,
“who took no action whatsoever.”
In May 2006, Jacobson reported to school
authorities that four students had followed
him to class and threatened to kill him.
According to Division Director Vespa-Papaleo,
state investigators have determined that
the response of Jackson school administrators
during the three-year period in which Jacobson
was allegedly harassed included verbal directives
to a number of individual students accused
of bullying Jacobson and, on one occasion,
sensitivity training for three students
accused of harassing him in January 2006.
Educators met with Jacobson’s parents
in the aftermath of another incident, and
Jacobson was subsequently isolated from
the main school population at lunchtime.
School officials are also alleged to have
blamed some of Jacobson’s victimization
on his own conduct.
“Despite
repeatedly calling it to the attention of
school authorities, the Complainant in this
case appears to have been exposed to a harassing
environment that was, over a period of years,
both severe and pervasive,” said Director
Vespa-Papaleo. “In addition, notwithstanding
some isolated, after-the-fact responses
to specific events involving this young
man, the district does not appear to have
made a broader effort to develop and maintain
a learning climate in which the rights and
the dignity of all students were valued
and protected.”
Now that a Finding of Probable Cause has
been issued, the matter will be referred
for conciliation, a Division on Civil Rights
process designed to resolve cases without
trial. If conciliation fails, an Administrative
Law Judge will conduct a non-jury trial,
or hearing on the case.
Under the LAD, Respondents found to have
committed a violation are subject to a penalty
of up to $10,000, provided they have not
been convicted of a previous violation within
the past five years.
# # # |
