Uniform Complaint Form and Procedures – Visit our complaints page for additional information.

Students or parents/guardians should report a Title IX complaint to the Title IX coordinator within 6 months from the date the alleged incident occurred or first obtained knowledge of the alleged incident. If the complainant is dissatisfied an appeal of the district’s findings may be made within 15 days of receiving the decision, to the California Department of Education, Education Equity UCP Appeals Office at (916) 319-8239 or email eeucpappeals@cde.ca.gov.

See below for additional details regarding the appeal timeline and filer requirements.

ACUSD Sexual Harassment Policy BP 5145.7

Education Code 221.61

Educational institutions have a responsibility to protect every student’s right to learn in a safe environment free from unlawful discrimination and to prevent unjust deprivations of that right. The Office for Civil Rights enforces several Federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability, and age in programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance from the Department of Education. It is the mission of the Office for Civil Rights is to ensure equal access to education and to promote educational excellence throughout the nation through vigorous enforcement of civil rights.

Anyone may file a complaint. The person or organization filing the complaint need not be a victim of the alleged discrimination but may complain on behalf of another person or group. A complainant filing on behalf of or pertaining to another person(s) is responsible for securing any necessary written consent from that individual, including when a parent files for a student over the age of 18.

U.S. Dept. of Education Office of Civil Rights complaint form

CDE Resources

Generally, a complaint must be filed with OCR within 180 calendar days of the date of the alleged discrimination. If the complaint is not filed in a timely fashion, the complainant should provide the reason for the delay and request a waiver of this filing requirement. OCR will decide whether to grant the waiver. In addition, OCR will determine whether the complaint contains enough information about the alleged discrimination to proceed to investigation. If OCR needs more information in order to clarify the complaint, it will contact the complainant; and the complainant has 14 calendar days within which to respond to OCR’s request for information unless the complainant has requested additional time to provide the information.

You may email OCR’s Discrimination Complaint Form or your own signed letter to ocr@ed.gov.

The OCR National Headquarters is located at:

U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, D.C. 20202-1100

Telephone: 1-800-421-3481 FAX: 202-453-6012
TDD: 1-800-877-8339
Email: OCR@ed.gov

OCR affords complainants an opportunity to appeal a determination(s) based on a finding of noncompliance (Section 303(a) of OCR’s CPM) and dismissals based on Sections 108(a), (b), (c), (d), (h), and (i) of OCR’s CPM. An appeal can be filed electronically, by mail, or fax. The complainant must either submit electronically a completed appeal form (PDF) or submit a written statement of no more than ten (10) pages (double-spaced, if typed) to the Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20202; if submitted by e-mail, to OCR@ed.gov; if submitted by fax, to 202-453-6012. The filing date of an appeal submitted by mail is the date the appeal is postmarked or submitted electronically or by fax.

In the appeal, the complainant must explain why he or she believes the factual information was incomplete or incorrect, the legal analysis was incorrect, or the appropriate legal standard was not applied, and how correction of any error(s) would change the outcome of the case; failure to do so may result in dismissal of the appeal.

An appeal must be submitted within 60 calendar days of the date indicated on the letter of finding or the dismissal. A waiver of the 60-day timeframe may be granted where the complainant was unable to submit the appeal within the 60-day timeframe because of illness or other circumstances, or because of circumstances generated by OCR’s action that have adversely affected the complainant’s ability to submit the appeal timely.

OCR will forward a copy of the complainant’s appeal to the recipient. The recipient has the option to submit to OCR a response to complainant’s appeal. Any response to complainant’s appeal must be submitted to OCR within 14 calendar days of the date that OCR forwarded a copy of the complainant’s appeal to the recipient.

OCR will issue a written decision on the appeal to the parties.

Additional information can be obtained from the California Department of Education Office of Equal Opportunity or from the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.