AG Rabner Announces
Finding of Probable Cause
in School Bullying
Case
Jackson Township
Ocean County
From the Web, May 9,
2007
TRENTON, May 8 -- Attorney
General Stuart Rabner announced today that the Division on Civil Rights has
issued a Finding of Probable Cause against the Jackson Township school district
for allegedly allowing to prevail a hostile environment in which a bisexual
student was repeatedly harassed and threatened because of his sexual orientation
and national origin.
Named as sole Respondent in the Finding of Probable Cause document is the
Jackson Township School District in Ocean County. Former Jackson student
Daniel Jacobson, a self-described bisexual born in Honduras, and Division on
Civil Rights Director J. Frank Vespa-Papaleo are the Complainants.
A Finding of Probable Cause means the state has concluded its preliminary
investigation and determined there is sufficient evidence to support a
reasonable suspicion that the conduct of the Jackson school district violated
the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD).
The Finding of Probable Cause comes in the wake of a state Supreme Court ruling
in February that, under the LAD, students are entitled to the same protections
from discrimination and harassment as their adult counterparts are in the
workplace. The Supreme Court ruled that school district officials are
obligated under the LAD to take "reasonable" steps to address severe or
pervasive harassment of students when they are aware of it. The ruling
came in response to an appeal by the Toms River school district of a Division on
Civil Rights decision involving a former student who was repeatedly bullied
because of his perceived homosexuality. The Division determined that the
former student had valid cause for action against Toms River schools under the
LAD.
Complainant Jacobson attended Jackson Memorial High School from September 2002
through his graduation in June 2006. According to an investigation by the
Division on Civil Rights, school officials learned as early as 2003 that
Jacobson was being subjected to alleged harassment due to his sexual orientation
and national origin.
Subsequently, the alleged harassment of Jacobson continued. In November
2005, Jacobson requested a class transfer due to persistent jokes and derogatory
comments made about his sexual orientation and national origin by fellow
students. On one occasion, the state's investigation found, two students
shouted a derogatory term denoting a homosexual in the presence of a guidance
counselor, "who took no action whatsoever." In May 2006, Jacobson reported
to school authorities that four students had followed him to class and
threatened to kill him.
According to Division Director Vespa-Papaleo, state investigators have
determined that the response of Jackson school administrators during the
three-year period in which Jacobson was allegedly harassed included verbal
directives to a number of individual students accused of bullying Jacobson and,
on one occasion, sensitivity training for three students accused of harassing
him in January 2006. Educators met with Jacobson's parents in the
aftermath of another incident, and Jacobson was subsequently isolated from the
main school population at lunchtime. School officials are also alleged to
have blamed some of Jacobson's victimization on his own conduct.
"Despite repeatedly calling it to the attention of school authorities, the
Complainant in this case appears to have been exposed to a harassing environment
that was, over a period of years, both severe and pervasive," said Director
Vespa-Papaleo. "In addition, notwithstanding some isolated, after-the-fact
responses to specific events involving this young man, the district does not
appear to have made a broader effort to develop and maintain a learning climate
in which the rights and the dignity of all students were valued and protected."
Now that a Finding of Probable Cause has been issued, the matter will be
referred for conciliation, a Division on Civil Rights process designed to
resolve cases without trial. If conciliation fails, an Administrative Law
Judge will conduct a non-jury trial, or hearing on the case.
Under the LAD, Respondents found to have committed a violation are subject to a
penalty of up to $10,000, provided they have not been convicted of a previous
violation within the past five years
For Further Information: Lee Moore 609 292-4791
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