AJE would like to share that on December 10th, 2024, The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) released a new resource, “Civil Rights Protections Against Retaliation.” This guide explains the key elements of retaliation, outlines how OCR assesses retaliation claims and provides examples that, depending on the facts and circumstances, could raise concerns of unlawful retaliation. 

Federal civil rights laws offer protection for people, including students, siblings, parents, guardians, teachers, counselors, coaches, or third parties advocating for the rights of students, who exercise their civil rights, oppose discrimination, report discrimination, or participate in civil rights investigations or proceedings. Retaliation may take the form of intimidation, threats, coercion, or another adverse action that would deter a reasonable person from exercising civil rights protected under the laws OCR enforces and occurs when a person is discriminated against for taking actions protected by civil rights laws.

Anyone who believes that a school has discriminated against a student based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability, or age can file a complaint of discrimination with OCR. To file a complaint, visit OCR’s Electronic Complaint System webpage. OCR is available to provide technical assistance on the application of its laws to discrimination on these bases. To request training, please contact OCR at OCR@ed.gov.