Policy Manual

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Policy ACAB-R

The South Portland School Board has adopted these employee procedures in order to provide prompt and equitable resolution of employee complaints of discrimination and harassment, including sexual harassment, as described in policies AC – Nondiscrimination/Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action and ACAB – Harassment and Sexual Harassment of School Employees. 

The complaint procedure in Section 2 may also be used, to the extent applicable, by visitors, including parents, volunteers and others having lawful access to the schools who wish to make a complaint of discrimination or harassment. 

Complaints alleging harassment or discrimination against students based on a protected category should be addressed through the Board’s Student Discrimination/Harassment and Title IX Sexual Harassment Complaint Procedures (ACAA-R). 

Any individual who is unsure about whether discrimination or harassment has occurred and/or which complaint procedure applies is encouraged to contact the Affirmative Action Officer or the Title IX Coordinator. 

Kathleen Cox, Director of Instructional Support/ Title IX Coordinator 

120 Wescott Road, South Portland, Maine 04106 

871-0555 x3006 

coxk@spsdme.org 

Director of Finance and Human Resources/Affirmative Action Officer       

120 Wescott Road, South Portland, Maine 04106 

207-871-0555 x 3003 

1. DEFINITIONS 

For purposes of these complaint procedures, the following definitions will be used. The Affirmative Action Officer or the Title IX Coordinator shall assess all reports and complaints to ensure that they are addressed under the appropriate policy and complaint procedure.

Discrimination/Harassment Complaint Procedure Definitions 

1. “Discrimination or harassment”: Discrimination or harassment on the basis of an individual’s membership in a protected category, which, for employees, includes actual or perceived race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, religion, ancestry or national origin, age, familial status, disability, or genetic information are prohibited. For the purpose of this policy, “race” includes traits associated with race, including but not limited to, hair texture, Afro hairstyles, and protective hairstyles, including braids, twists, and locs.

2. “Discrimination”: Treating individuals differently, or interfering with or preventing them from enjoying the advantages or privileges afforded to others because of their membership in a protected category. 

3. “Harassment”: Oral, written, graphic, electronic or physical conduct relating to an individual’s actual or perceived membership in a protected category that is sufficiently severe, pervasive or persistent so as to interfere with or limit that individual’s ability to participate in the school unit’s programs or activities by creating a hostile, intimidating or offensive environment. 

4. Under Title VII and under Maine law/regulations, sexual harassment is defined differently than under Title IX. Maine Human Rights Commission regulations define sexual harassment as conduct on the basis of sex which satisfies one or more of the following: 

• Submission to such conduct is made either explicitly or implicitly a term or condition of an individual’s employment; 

• Submission to or rejection of such conduct by an employee is used as the basis for employment decisions affecting the employee; or 

• Such conduct has the purpose or effect of unreasonably interfering with an individual’s work performance or creating an intimidating, hostile or offensive working environment. 

5. “Sexual orientation”: Under Maine law, this means a person’s “actual or perceived heterosexuality, bisexuality, homosexuality or gender identity or expression.” 

6. “Gender identity”: Under Maine law, this means “the gender-related identity, appearance, mannerisms or other gender-related characteristics of an individual, regardless of the individual’s assigned sex at birth.” 

7. “Complaint” is defined as an allegation that an employee or other third party has been discriminated against or harassed on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, age, religion, ancestry, national origin, genetic information or disability (and in regard to sex, conduct not otherwise addressed in the Title IX regulations and Section 3 of ACAB-R). 

8. “Employee”: Whenever the term “employee” is used in Section 2, it includes visitors or others who have a lawful basis to make a complaint of discrimination or harassment. 

Title IX Sexual Harassment Complaint Procedure Definitions 

1. “Title IX sexual harassment”: Under the federal Title IX regulations, sexual harassment includes the following conduct on the basis of sex which takes place within the context of the school unit’s education programs and activities: 

• “Quid pro quo” sexual harassment by a school employee: Conditioning a school aid, benefit or service (such as a promotion or favorable evaluation) on an individual’s participation in unwelcome sexual conduct; 

• “Hostile environment” sexual harassment: Unwelcome conduct based on sex that a reasonable person would determine is so severe, pervasive and objectively offensive that it effectively denies an individual’s equal access to the school unit’s education programs and activities; or 

• Sexual assault, dating violence, domestic violence and stalking as these terms are defined in federal laws.

2. “Report”: Under the Title IX regulations, any individual may make a report of sexual harassment involving an employee, whether the individual is the alleged victim or not. A report must be made to the Affirmative Action Officer or the Title IX Coordinator. A report triggers certain actions by the AAO or the Title IX Coordinator for the alleged victim of sexual harassment, but an investigati