Title IX Notice of Non-discrimination

In accordance with the requirements set forth in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), Grand Lake Montessorri provides this notice of nondiscrimination and states that the School does not discriminate on the basis of sex in its education programs and activities. Questions concerning Title IX may be referred to the School’s Title IX Coordinator whose contact information is below or to the Office for Civil Rights at the United States Department of Education.

Title IX Compliance Coordinator Contact Information:

Nancy Haskins – Director of Operations/HR
Grand Lake Montessori 466 Chetwood St.
Oakland, CA 94610 510 622-0259
nancy@grandlakemontessori.com

Title IX Non-discrimination Policy

This Policy is effective on May 1st, 2020 This Policy is only required until the SBA loan is paid or forgiven, and the School has discretion to withdraw this Policy at that time

In accordance with the requirements set forth in Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (Title IX), the School does not discriminate on the basis of sex in its education programs and activities. The School is committed to providing an academic and work environment free of unlawful harassment. This Policy defines sexual harassment, and sets forth a procedure for the investigation and resolution of complaints of harassment by or against any staff or faculty member or student within the School.

This Policy protects students, employees, unpaid interns, and volunteers in connection with all the academic, educational, extracurricular, athletic, and other programs of the School, whether those programs take place in the School’s facilities, a School vehicle, or at a class or training program sponsored by the School at another location.

Definitions

General Harassment:​ Harassment based on sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, gender expression is illegal and violates School policy. Harassment shall be found where a reasonable person with the same characteristics as the victim of the harassing conduct would be adversely affected to a degree that interferes with his/her/their ability to participate in or to realize the intended benefits of an institutional activity, employment, or resource.

Gender-based harassment does not necessarily involve conduct that is sexual. Any hostile or offensive conduct based on gender can constitute prohibited harassment if it meets the definition above. For example, repeated derisive comments about a person’s competency to do the job, when based on that person’s gender, could constitute gender-based harassment.  Harassment comes in many forms, including but not limited to the following conduct that could, depending on the circumstances, meet the definition above, or could contribute to a set of circumstances that meets the definition:

Verbal: Inappropriate or offensive remarks, slurs, jokes, or innuendoes based on a person’s​      gender, sexual orientation, or other protected status. This may include, but is not limited to, inappropriate comments regarding an individual’s body, physical appearance, attire, sexual prowess, or sexual orientation; unwelcome flirting or propositions; demands for sexual favors; verbal abuse, threats or intimidation; or sexist, patronizing or ridiculing statements that convey derogatory attitudes based on gender, sexual orientation, or other protected status.

Physical: Inappropriate or offensive touching, assault, or physical interference with free​  movement. This may include, but is not limited to, kissing, patting, lingering or intimate touches, grabbing, pinching, leering, staring, unnecessarily brushing against or blocking another person, whistling or sexual gestures. It also includes any physical assault or intimidation directed at an individual due to that person’s gender, sexual orientation, or other protected status. Physical sexual harassment includes acts of sexual violence, such as rape, sexual assault, sexual battery, and sexual coercion. Sexual violence refers to physical sexual acts perpetrated against a person’s will or where a person is incapable of giving consent due to the victim’s use of drugs or alcohol. An individual also may be unable to give consent due to an intellectual or other disability.

Visual or Written:​ The display or circulation of visual or written material that degrades an individual or group based on gender, sexual orientation, or other protected status. This may include, but is not limited to, posters, cartoons, drawings, graffiti, reading materials, computer graphics, or electronic media transmissions.

Environmental: A hostile academic or work environment may exist where it is permeated by​     sexual innuendo; insults or abusive comments directed at an individual or group based on gender, sexual orientation, or other protected status; or gratuitous comments regarding gender, sexual orientation, or other protected status that are not relevant to the subject matter of the class or activities on the job. A hostile environment can arise from an unwarranted focus on sexual topics or sexually suggestive statements in the classroom or work environment. It can also be created by an unwarranted focus on, or stereotyping of, particular sexual orientations, genders, or other protected statuses. An environment may also be hostile toward anyone who merely witnesses unlawful harassment in his/her/their immediate surroundings, although the conduct is directed at others. The determination of whether an environment is hostile is based on the totality of the circumstances, including such factors as the frequency of the conduct, the severity of the conduct, whether the conduct is humiliating or physically threatening, and whether the conduct unreasonably interferes with an individual’s learning or work.

Sexual Harassment: In addition to the above, sexual harassment consists of 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 when:

• submission to the conduct is explicitly or implicitly made a term or condition of an individual’s employment, academic status, progress, internship, or volunteer activity;
• submission to, or rejection of, the conduct by the individual is used as a 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 (as more fully described below); or
• 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 School.

This definition encompasses two kinds of sexual harassment:

“Quid pro quo”​  sexual harassment occurs when a person in a position of authority makes​ educational or employment benefits conditional upon an individual’s willingness to engage in or tolerate unwanted sexual conduct.

“Hostile environment” sexual harassment occurs when unwelcome conduct based on a​  person’s gender alters the conditions of an individual’s learning or work environment, unreasonably interfere with an individual’s academic or work performance, or create an intimidating, hostile, or abusive learning or work environment. The victim must subjectively perceive the environment as hostile, and the harassment must be such that a reasonable person of the same gender would perceive the environment as hostile. A single or isolated incident of sexual harassment may be sufficient to create a hostile environment if it unreasonably interfered with the person’s academic or work performance or created an intimidating, hostile, or offensive learning or working environment.

Sexually harassing conduct can occur between people of the same or different genders. The standard for determining whether conduct constitutes sexual harassment is whether a reasonable person of the same gender as the victim would perceive the conduct as harassment based on sex.

Sexual Misconduct: Sexual misconduct includes sexual harassment and sexual violence. Sexual​  violence refers to physical sexual acts perpetrated against a person’s will or when a person is incapable of giving consent due to the victim’s use of drugs or alcohol or due to an intellectual or other disability. Sexual violence includes rape, sexual assault, sexual battery, and sexual coercion.

Affirmative consent:​ Affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity.

 Academic Freedom

No provision of this Policy shall be interpreted to prohibit conduct that is legitimately related to the course content, teaching methods, scholarship, or public commentary of an individual faculty member or the educational, political, artistic, or literary expression of students in classrooms and public forums. Freedom of speech and academic freedom are, however, not limitless and this procedure will not protect speech or expressive conduct that violates federal or California anti-discrimination laws.