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Transcript

Davis v. Monroe County Board of Education

Thesis Statement::

Davis v. Monroe BOE is about getting permission to take action on student to student sexual harassment.

How case originated:

The case was issued under the complain that a 5th grader, named LaShonda, wasn't helped out when she was sexually harassed by another student. Aurelia Davis then filed a case to the supreme court asking for help on this matter.

Parties, Facts, and Issues:

  • Petitioner: Aurelia Davis
  • Respondent: Monroe County BOE
  • Decided by: Rhenquist court
  • Argued: Tuesday, January 12, 1999
  • Decided: Monday, May 24, 1999

Other relevant cases:

  • Oncave v. Sundowner Offshore Services
  • Faragher v. City of Boca Raton
  • Ellerth v. Burlington Industries

Arguements

Petitioner:

Ms. Williams started off by saying that the county "imposes no obligations on schools to remedy this type of discrimination". Justice O'Conner said that they may be mistaking the harassment for teasing and playing around. Williams then stated that title VII standards inform whether sexual harassment is sex discrimination. She then stated how school officials do recommend using age appropriate measures. Justice Breyer states that sexual harrassment can differ from being in workplace or amongst children. Williams then suggests that teachers should at least educate their students about this topic.

Respondent:

Mr. Plowden starts off saying the exact same thing that Justice O'Conner said, Maybe the kids were just teasing each other. He states that nothing wrong was done. Maybe the boys were just teasing the girls and it happened to offend one of the girls. The court interrupt him a few times to tell him that they are hearing a few different things from him and are asking him many questions about what different titles mean or stand for. Plowden stands by his statement of saying a teasing session just went wrong and the girls took it the wrong way.

Results

Supreme court, with a 5 to 4 majority vote, decided that they were for Davis. They said that there is an implied private right to education under Title IX, private damage actions may lie against schools that do not act against this. They also called the harassment serious and systematic.

Concurrent:

The majority vote was with Davis and saying that the sexual harassment that happened to cause the case was wrong and needed to be prevented.

Impact

Now that the problem had been looked into and solved, whenever sexual harassment happened in the county schools, it would be dealt with in a reasonable punishment. Teachers wouldn't just pass it off as teasing. Other cases coming after this one were:

Faragher v. City of Boca Raton

Ellerth v. Burlington Industries

Oncale v. Sundowner Offshore Services

Conclusion

Due to Davis complaining about LaShonda getting sexually harassed in school, she was able to get justice and have it dealt with. I am pretty sure they fixed most problems of sexual harassment in schools between students and parents aren't complaining about the issue as much anymore.

References:

  • http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/97-843.ZS.html
  • http://www.oyez.org/cases
  • http://www.oyez.org/cases/1990-1999/1998/1998_97_843
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oncale_v._Sundowner_Offshore_Services
  • http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Faragher_v._Boca_Raton
  • http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/97-569.ZS.html
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