I. DEFINITIONS
A. District employee. For purposes of this policy, district em-
ployee includes school board members, district employees,
agents, volunteers, contractors/vendors, or persons subject
to the supervision and control of the district.
B. Discriminate. The term "discriminate" includes segregate or
separate and, for purposes of discrimination based on sex,
it includes sexual harassment.
C. Harassment. Harassment is unwelcome conduct that is
based on race, color, creed, religion, national origin,
sex/gender, marital status, familial status, disability, status
with regard to public assistance, sexual orientation, age,
family care leave status or veteran status. A single incident
of harassment may implicate more than one protected
class. For example, a student may be targeted because of
his race and sexual orientation.
1. Harassing conduct may take many forms, including but
not limited to verbal acts and name-calling, as well as
nonverbal behavior that is physically threatening,
harmful, or humiliating. Harassment includes the use
of derogatory language, intimidation, and threats;
unwanted physical contact or physical violence; and
the use of derogatory language and images in graffiti,
pictures or drawings, notes, e-mails, electronic postings
and/or phone or text messages related to a person’s
membership in a protected class. Harassment includes
behavior that may not be directed at a particular person,
but may instead consist of harassing conduct (e.g.
physical, verbal, graphic, or written) that creates a
hostile environment for students or employees.
2. Conduct is unwelcome if the student or employee did
not request or invite it and considered the conduct to
be undesirable or offensive. Submission or failure to
complain does not mean that the conduct was welcome;
the circumstances must be examined.
3. With respect to students, a “hostile environment” exists
when harassment is sufficiently severe, persistent, or
pervasive to interfere with or limit one or more students’
abilities to participate in or benefit from the education
program.
4. With respect to district employees, a “hostile environ-
ment” exists when harassment is sufficiently severe or
pervasive so as to alter the conditions of the victim's
employment and create an abusive working environment.
D. Sex-Based Harassment.
1. “Sex-based harassment” includes both sexual
harassment and gender-based harassment.
2. Sexual harassment is harassment of a sexual nature.
Sexual harassment consists of unwelcome sexual ad-
vances, requests for sexual favors, sexually motivated
physical conduct or other verbal or physical conduct or
communication of a sexual nature when:
a. submission to that conduct or communication is
made a term or condition, either explicitly or implic-
itly, of obtaining or retaining employment, or of
obtaining an education; or
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b. submission to or rejection of that conduct or
communication by an individual is used as a
factor in decisions affecting that individual’s
employment or education; or
c. the conduct or communication has the purpose or
effect of creating a hostile environment.
3. “Gender-based harassment” means non-sexual harass-
ment of a person because of the person’s sex, including
harassment based on gender identity and expression.
Gender-based harassment includes, but is not limited to,
harassment based on the person’s nonconformity with
gender stereotypes, regardless of the actual or perceived
sex, gender identity, or sexual orientation of the harasser
or target of the harassment.
4. “Gender stereotypes” refers to stereotypical notions of
masculinity and femininity or expectations of how boys or
girls should act.
Sexual Orientation Based Harassment.
1. “Sexual orientation-based harassment” means non-sex-
ual harassment of a person because of the person’s
actual or perceived sexual orientation or association with
or advocacy for a person or group (e.g., family members
or friends) who are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender
(“LGBT”).
2. “Sexual orientation” means having or being perceived as
having an emotional, physical, or sexual attachment to
another person without regard to the sex of that person
or having or being perceived as having an orientation for
such attachment, or having or being perceived as having
a self-image or identity not traditionally associated with
one’s biological maleness or femaleness.
Racial, Color, Creed or National Origin Harassment.
1. Racial, color, creed or national origin harassment consists
of physical or verbal conduct based on an individual’s
perceived or actual race, color, creed or national origin.
2. “National origin” means the place of birth of an individual
or of any of the individual's lineal ancestors. This includes
harassment of students born in the United States who
have relatives that are from other countries.
Religious Harassment.
Religious harassment consists of physical or verbal conduct
based on an individual’s perceived or actual religious beliefs.
Disability Harassment.
1. Disability harassment consists of physical or verbal conduct
based on an individual’s perceived or actual disability.
2. A person with a disability is any person who (1) has a
physical or mental impairment which substantially limits
one or more major life activities; (2) has a record of such
an impairment; or (3) is regarded as having such an im-
pairment. This includes students who are protected by
Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act and/or
Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act.
3. Disability harassment also may deny a student with a
disability a free and appropriate public education (FAPE).
Harassment of a student based on disability may
decrease the student’s ability to benefit from his or
her education and amount to a denial of FAPE.
ahschools.us/policies
2019-20 School Handbook