Part of Tuesday night's Charlotte-Mecklenburg school oard meeting included a presentation on the district’s Title IX policies and procedures.
The presentation went over how students should report allegations of sexual assault and harassment, how teachers should handle those reports and Title IX training for both students and CMS staff.
Stephanie McKinney, the district Title IX administrator, led the presentation. McKinney said more needs to be done to educate parents and students on how to report misconduct. She said links will be added to every school’s website to ensure parents and students know how to report.
"And (if) we see a school that has no reports, that’s not a good thing," McKinney said. "Because it might mean that people don’t know how to report or they don’t trust reporting."
"So those are things, too, that we are talking with our principals about," she said. "Know what’s in the climate at your school that you might need to tease out to make sure that everybody feels comfortable reporting at your school."
In the 2018-2019 school year, there were more than 1,600 reported allegations. That dropped to 1,072 the in the 2019-2020 school year. Last school year, there were 215 reported allegations, although most of that year was spent in virtual learning.
The Title IX presentation came at the tail-end of the hourslong board meeting that concluded shortly before midnight.