The U.S. Department of Education’s office for civil rights has found New York City public schools to be in violation of Title IX, the federal law that prohibits gender discrimination in federally financed education programs.
The National Women’s Law Center filed a complaint against the New York City school district—along with 11 other districts—in 2010, charging that it had a significant gap between the percentage of student-athletes who were female and the percentage of overall female students.
The OCR found that the district had cut girls’ athletic opportunities and had no process in which students could request a sport. Additionally, the OCR found the district hadn’t met girls’ interest in volleyball, softball, soccer, tennis, cross-country, bowling, golf, and swimming, according to the NWLC, and determined it would need to add 3,862 opportunities for female student-athletes to be in compliance with Title IX.
