The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights claims Virginia Beach City Public Schools failed to properly investigate and record reports of sexual misconduct against students, violating Title IX.
The division and the department reached an agreement this week to “restore protections for students who have reported sexual misconduct,” according to a Thursday afternoon news release.
Superintendent Donald Robertson Jr. said in a statement released late Friday afternoon that the division takes the matter seriously and welcomes the opportunity to work alongside the Office for Civil Rights.
“Nothing matters more to us than the safety of the children in our care,” he said. “This agreement gives us a shared roadmap to make sure every student, parent and employee knows how to report a concern, knows that concern will be heard and knows it will be addressed fairly and completely.”
It’s unclear why the Office for Civil Rights, or OCR, was investigating the division or for how long. The office did not respond to a request for clarification in time for publication.
It may have been one of the 20 districts the DOE began investigating in July after claiming it would “crack down on sexual predators in schools.” The OCR said it was looking into districts whose 2023-2024 Civil Rights Data Collection submissions “contained responses that suggest that districts might not be addressing staff on student sexual misconduct appropriately.”
The OCR said that from 2017 to 2020, VBPCS had 117 incidents of sexual harassment, 88 incidents of indecent exposure by a student, one incident of forcible rape, and eight incidents of inappropriate touching by an employee or sexual intercourse between an employee and student. The news release stated there were other alleged sexual offenses.
But for that time period, the division only produced 12 investigation reports.
VBCPS said that was before the division's current Title IX procedures were adopted. Since then, a Title IX coordinator was hired and staff received training.
Failing to properly investigate and record reports of sexual misconduct is a violation of Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex in education, programs and activities. That could include anything from sexual violence, failure to provide equal athletic opportunities to pregnancy discrimination.
VBCPS and the OCR agreed to seven terms:
- The division will update its Title IX policies to ensure there are fair grievance procedures for student-on-student and employee-on-student allegations of sexual misconduct or assault.
- The division will provide OCR with an updated nondiscrimination statement that the OCR will approve and the division will distribute.
- Students, families and employees will be notified about the responsibilities of the division’s Title IX coordinator, who is in charge of investigations and grievance procedures.
- The division will develop an OCR-approved record-keeping system to preserve records.
- Division employees will be trained on Title IX policies and procedures, including how to identify sexual harassment and an employee’s legal obligation to report it.
- The division will share with students and families how it defines sexual harassment, available resources and what actions can be taken if they’re a victim.
- The division will ensure it responds to all reports or complaints of alleged sexual harassment, even if the accused employee resigns.
OCR Assistant Secretary Kimberly Richey said in a statement the agreement marks a “critical step toward ensuring students are protected from sexual misconduct at the hands of teachers and school officials.”
The ramp-up in rhetoric from the OCR about Title IX investigations comes after a January Government Accountability Office report stated that the office dismissed 90% of the more than 9,000 complaints of discrimination based on race, sex, disability and age it received from March to September 2025.
Virginia Beach City Public Schools is a member of the Hampton Roads Educational Telecommunications Association, which holds WHRO’s license
