Harassment, Discrimination, & Retaliation Prevention Policy
Oakwood School is committed to maintaining a working and educational environment that is free of harassment, including sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. This may include behavior that occurs off-campus, or via social media, or other electronic communications, that impacts or affects the school community. Violations of this policy will not be tolerated and will result in corrective action, up to and including expulsion from the school.
Harassment
This policy prohibits harassment based on actual or perceived sex, race, color, religion, ancestry, national origin, sexual orientation, physical or mental disability, medical condition, marital status, gender identity, gender expression, age (40 and over), military and veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law (“Protected Classifications”), as applicable, or association with an individual who has an actual or perceived protected classification. This policy prohibits both harassment by students and parents towards students and employees, and harassment by others in the community towards students and employees. Harassment violates this policy and will not be tolerated. Harassing conduct by students or parents will result in appropriate corrective action, and corrective action includes discipline up to and including suspension or expulsion from School. Harassment of students by employees will result in appropriate corrective action, up to and including termination of employment, and is addressed in a separate policy in the Employee Handbook.
Examples include, but are not limited to:
Examples of Harassment
Harassment can take many forms, and may include verbal, physical or visual conduct.
- Verbal, written, and visual harassment includes: making disparaging statements, telling jokes, using epithets, slurs, stereotypes, insults, or labels based on an individual’s Protected Classification(s), threats of physical harm or statements designed to intimidate, abuse or humiliate another, whether communicated verbally, in writing, electronically or in posters, cartoons, drawings or gestures. This may include comments on appearance including dress or physical features, or dress consistent with gender identification, or stories and jokes, focusing on race, national origin, religion or other Protected Classifications identified below in this policy.
- Physical harassment includes: intimidating conduct, such as touching of a person or a person’s property, hazing, assault, grabbing, stalking or blocking or impeding a person’s movement.
Examples of Sexual Harassment
California Education Code section 212.5 defines sexual harassment as any unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature made by someone from or in the work or educational setting, under any of the following conditions:
Submission to the conduct is explicitly or implicitly made a term or a condition of an individual’s employment, academic status, or progress.
- Submission to, or rejection of, the conduct by the individual is used as the basis of employment or academic decisions affecting the individual.
- The conduct has the purpose or effect of having a negative impact upon the individual’s work or academic performance, or of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work or educational environment.
- Submission to, or rejection of, the conduct by the individual is used as the basis for any decision affecting the individual regarding benefits and services, honors, programs, or activities available at or through the educational institution.
- Sexually harassing conduct can occur between individuals of the same or different gender.
- Sexual harassment may include, but is not limited to:
- Unwelcome verbal or written conduct, including by notes, letters, e-mails, text messages, social media postings, such as suggestive comments, derogatory comments, sexual innuendos, slurs, or unwanted sexual advances, invitations, or comments, pestering for dates, making threats, spreading rumors about or rating others as to sexual activity or performance.
- Unwelcome visual conduct such as displays of sexually suggestive objects, pictures, posters, written material, cartoons, or drawings, graffiti of a sexual nature, or use of obscene gestures or leering.
- Unwelcome physical conduct such as unwanted touching, pinching, kissing, patting, hugging, blocking of normal movement, assault, or interference with work or study directed at an individual because of the individual's sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, or gender expression.
- Threats and demands or pressure to submit to sexual requests in order to keep employment or academic standing or to avoid other loss and offers of benefits in return for sexual favors.
Complaint Procedure
Students or parents who believe that they have experienced, witnessed, or have relevant information about harassment should immediately report the matter to the school, either orally or in writing. Students and parents may report the matter to the Head of School, an administrator, or their teacher. Alternatively, students and parents may choose to report harassment or retaliation to any other employee of the school with whom they are comfortable, such as a counselor, or coach, all of whom must report the matter to the Head of School under this policy. While the school does not limit the time frame for reporting, immediate reporting is important as the school may not be able to investigate as thoroughly or consider as a wide range of corrective actions the longer the time that has passed between the alleged misconduct and the report.
Interim Measures
The school may provide appropriate interim support and reasonable protective measures, if and as needed based on the particular applicable circumstances, to protect against further acts of harassment or acts of retaliation, to provide a safe educational environment, or to protect the integrity of an investigation. The school will, in its sole judgment and discretion, determine the necessity and scope of any interim measures.
Investigation Process
Upon receipt of a report of alleged harassment and any related initial inquiries, the school may request clarification or conduct an initial inquiry, to determine whether the oral report or written complaint alleges a potential violation of this policy. To request clarification or conduct an initial inquiry, the Head of School, or her designee, may meet with the individual(s) who made the report or that was reportedly subjected to conduct that violates this policy.
If the school has determined that the report pertains to behavior that may be in violation of this Policy, the school will undertake an investigation related to the reported conduct. Any investigation may be conducted by designated school personnel or by an outside investigator, in the school’s sole discretion.
Students and parents are expected to cooperate in any investigation as needed. Any individual who is interviewed during the course of an investigation is prohibited from discussing the substance of the interview, except as otherwise directed by the investigator or the Head of School, as necessary in relation to any administrative or legal proceedings or as otherwise required by law. Any individual who discusses the content of an investigatory interview or who otherwise fails to cooperate with the investigation may be subject to corrective action.
Confidentiality
Reports of harassment will be kept confidential, except as needed to conduct an investigation, to take interim measures, to take corrective action, to conduct ongoing monitoring, or as necessary in relation to any administrative or legal proceedings or as otherwise required by law.
Discrimination
Discrimination is treating an individual differently because of the individual’s actual or perceived membership in a Protected Classification as defined in this policy, by taking an adverse action against or denying a benefit to that individual. Students or parents who believe they have experienced, witnessed, or are otherwise aware of discrimination by the school, should immediately report the matter using the same complaint procedure provided for in this policy under the above section on harassment, and the above sections on interim measures, investigation and confidentiality for harassment reports, will also apply to reports of discrimination.
No Retaliation
The school prohibits retaliatory behavior against anyone who complains in good faith or participates in the complaint or investigation process pursuant to this policy, regardless of the outcome of the investigation. Retaliation constitutes a violation of this policy and may result in disciplinary or other corrective action. Retaliation includes, but is not limited to, taking sides against an individual, spreading rumors about or shunning or avoiding an individual, or making real or implied threats of intimidation towards an individual, because that individual reported harassment or discrimination or participated in an investigation related to a report of harassment or discrimination.
Remedial and Disciplinary Action
Oakwood School will determine if the conduct violates school policy and if so, the appropriate corrective action. Any student determined to have violated this policy will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including expulsion. Any violation of this policy by a parent will be considered a violation of Oakwood’s parent behavior expectations and may be grounds for expulsion of the offending parent’s child(ren).