The U.S. Department of Education is investigating whether Owasso Public Schools failed to appropriately respond to allegations of student harassment, the district confirmed Friday evening.
An Owasso Public Schools’ statement acknowledged that the district received notice Friday of an investigation by the U.S. Department of Education Office of Civil Rights based on a Feb. 21 complaint filed by the LGBTQ+ advocacy organization Human Rights Campaign.
“The district is committed to cooperating with federal officials and believes the complaint submitted by HRC is not supported by the facts and is without merit,” the district’s statement reads.
The investigation came to light late Friday evening with the release by the Human Rights Campaign of a letter to it from the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.
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That letter, also dated Friday, does not mention Owasso Public Schools student Nex Benedict but was written in response to the Human Rights Campaign’s complaint concerning Benedict’s Feb. 8 death.
The letter to HRC President Kelley Robinson says the agency “is opening the following issues for investigation:
“1. Whether the District failed to appropriately respond to alleged harassment of students in a manner consistent with the requirements of Title IX.
“2. Whether the District failed to appropriately respond to alleged harassment of students in a manner consistent with the requirements of Section 504 and Title II.”
The letter is signed by Karen A. Mines, acting regional director for the Office of Civil Rights Region V, which is composed of six states in the upper Midwest. It is unclear why the letter carries Mines’ signature on Region V letterhead, since Oklahoma is in Region VI.
The letter says “opening the complaint for investigation in no way implies that OCR has made a determination on the merits of the complaint.”
Benedict, 16, died one day after an altercation in a school restroom. The reason for the fight remains unclear, although some maintain that it had to do with Benedict’s nonbinary gender identity.
“Nex’s family, community, and the broader 2SLGBTQI+ (two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer or questioning, and intersex+) community in Oklahoma are still awaiting answers following their tragic loss,” Robinson said in a press release. “We appreciate the Department of Education responding to our complaint and opening an investigation — we need them to act urgently so there can be justice for Nex, and so that all students at Owasso High School and every school in Oklahoma can be safe from bullying, harassment, and discrimination.”
The Human Rights Campaign letter to the Office of Civil Rights says Benedict was “brutally beaten,” but police say a preliminary postmortem ruled out trauma as a cause of death.
In a video-recorded interview with a law officer, Benedict, who used gender nonspecific pronouns, said they lost consciousness during the fight. The teen was later taken to a hospital, examined, interviewed by the law officer and discharged.
Owasso police detectives continue to investigate details and evidence relating to the Feb. 7 altercation, and an official autopsy report from the State Medical Examiner’s Office is still pending.
The Human Rights Campaign has also asked the Department of Justice to investigate.
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