POLICY
Queen Anne’s County Public Schools
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POLICY TITLE:
Sexual Harassment
ADOPTION/EFFECTIVE DATE:
Adopted: February 1, 1989
Revised: January 12, 1995
Reformatted: October 9, 2013
POLICY/PROCEDURE MANUAL SUMMARY CATEGORY:
Foundations and Basic Commitment
Amendment:
A. Purpose
To establish policy and procedures to handle sexual harassment in the
workplace.
B. Policy Statement
1. It is the policy of the Board of Education of Queen Anne’s County School
District to maintain a learning and working environment that is free from
sexual harassment.
2. It shall be a violation of this policy for any member of the staff to harass
another staff member or student through conduct or communication of a
sexual nature as defined in Section II. It shall also be a violation of this
policy for students to harass other students through conduct or
communication of a sexual nature as defined in Section II.
3. If complaints are made, the allegations will be investigated and, if a
preponderance of the evidence support such a complaint, immediate
action will be taken.
C. Rationale
Sexual harassment is reprehensible. It subverts the mission of the school system
by threatening the careers, educational experience and general well-being of
every member of the school community. In both obvious and subtle ways, sexual
harassment destroys an individual’s ability to function at his or her highest level
and has a harmful effect on one’s ability to study, work, or engage in leisure
activities within the school and general community.
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Queen Anne’s County Public Schools
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D. Definitions
1. Sexual harassment shall consist of unwelcomed sexual advances,
requests for sexual favors, and other inappropriate verbal or physical
conduct of a sexual nature when made by any member of the school staff
to a student, when made by any member of the school staff to another
staff member, when made by any student to another student or when
made by a student to any staff member when:
a. Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term
or condition of an individual’s employment or education, or when:
b. Rejection of such conduct by an individual is used as the basis for
academic or employment decisions affecting that individual, or when:
c. Such conduct has the purpose or effect of substantially interfering with
an individual’s academic or professional performance or creating an
intimidating, hostile, or offensive employment or educational
environment.
2. Sexual harassment, as set forth in Section II-A, may include, but is not
limited to the following:
a. verbal, written/graphic, or physical harassment or abuse
b. pressure for sexual activity
c. inappropriate patting, pinching, or brushing against an individual’s body
d. inappropriate staring, ogling, or gazing of a sexual or demeaning nature
e. repeated remarks to a person, with sexual or demeaning implications
f. suggesting or demanding sexual involvement accompanied by implied
or
explicit threats concerning one’s grades, job, health, welfare, property,
etc.
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POLICY
Queen Anne’s County Public Schools
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E. Implementation Guidelines
1. Reporting
a. Any person who alleges sexual harassment by any staff member or
student in the school district may complain directly to his or her
immediate supervisor, building principal, or Director of Human
Resources. Reporting sexual harassment will not reflect upon the
individual’s status nor will it affect future employment, grades, or work
assignments.
b. The right to confidentiality, both of the complainant and of the accused,
will be respected consistent with the school district’s legal obligations,
and with the necessity to investigate allegations of misconduct and to
take corrective action when this conduct has occurred.
2. Sanctions
a. A substantiated charge against a member in the school district shall
subject such staff member to disciplinary action. Such actions can
include, but are not limited to warning, suspension, or job termination of
the offending employee.
b. A substantiated charge against a student in the school district shall
subject that student to student disciplinary action. Such action can
include, but not be limited to, warning, suspension or expulsion,
consistent with the student discipline code.
3. Notification
Notice of this policy will be circulated to all schools and departments of
the Board of Education of Queen Anne’s County on an annual basis and
incorporated in teacher and student handbooks. It will also be distributed
to all organizations in the community having cooperative agreements with
public schools. Failure to comply with this policy may result in termination
of the cooperative agreement.
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Queen Anne’s County Public Schools
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F. Evaluation
The Superintendent will provide the Board of Education a review of this policy in
2017. The focus of this review will be the effectiveness of the elements of this
policy in assisting the Board in fulfilling its mission.
G. References
Article 49B, Annotated Code of Maryland
Article 27, Sections 464 B and C, Annotated Code of Maryland
Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 – Amended 1991
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Queen Anne’s County Public Schools
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