Sexual aSSault LEGAL ADVOCACY MANUAL - Texas Association ...

However, survivors considering civil lawsuits under Title IX—or any other civil law—should be aware of
how the lawsuit will affect their privacy. Civil litigation always has significant privacy implications. Survivors
pursuing Title IX claims have been ordered to turn over private medical records and even personal diary
entries to defendant schools (see, e.g., Simpson v. University of Colorado, Civil Action No. 02-RB-2390).
Remedies for Elementary and Secondary School Students
Informal Measures
As in the higher education context, an advocate may be able to greatly help a high school or elementary
student simply by requesting accommodations from the school. If specific policies are not in place already,
schools still may be willing to take some important measures for the survivor’s safety and wellbeing.
Some commonly useful accommodations include:
• Transferring the perpetrator or survivor to a different class within the same school to minimize
further contact between the two
• If the perpetrator is a teacher or student assistant, removing the person from class pending a full
investigation
• Adjusting the survivor’s schedule or arranging specialized study (without penalty to the student)
to avoid contact with the perpetrator
• Home schooling the survivor
ADVOCACY ACTION: No measure will be appropriate for every child survivor. As an
advocate, listen carefully to identify even the smallest measures that could make the
child’s life at school easier, and take whatever action possible to achieve it. An adjustment to a
student’s high school schedule may seem insignificant compared with a criminal conviction,
so it may be tempting to neglect such small accommodations. However, those small things
often have significant impacts on a child’s life, so it is very important to always follow
through on them.
Finally, no matter what accommodations or safety measures are appropriate for a student victim, there are a
couple other general questions to consider. First, will the child need a guardian ad litem appointed to protect
her or his interests? If the child’s parents were involved in abuse or are otherwise absent or hostile to the
child, a family court might need to appoint someone else to represent the child’s interests. If you believe a
child has been abused or neglected, always inform police and the Department of Family Health Services.
Relatedly, consider whether anyone at the school may have violated Texas’s mandatory reporting laws.
(p. 36, Mandatory Reporting) Recall that under Texas law, an immediate report to police or Child Protective
Services is required if a person suspects in good faith that a child has been physically or mentally harmed
by abuse or neglect (Tex. Fam. Code § 26.101). In addition, there are special provisions requiring
teachers and other professionals who work with children to report suspected abuse within 48 hours.
In addition to informal requests and accommodations, state and federal law also provide some protections
for elementary and secondary students.
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