If you’ve experienced sexual harassment in Duval County Public Schools and want to share your story with us, click here. In Duval County, sexual harassment has become a daily reality for many students. Whether it's catcalling, groping, or commenting on people's clothes and bodies, sexual harassment runs rampant in the district and is antithetical to the safety and support an educational institution should offer.

While the county’s Anti-Discrimination and Harassment Policy “forbids sexual harassment, or any other forms of illegal harassment, of any employee, student, volunteer, or visitor,” feminine students continue to face illegal and degrading harassment by their teachers and peers.

The severe lack of resources and education about Title IX for both students and teachers allows many of these cases to slip through the cracks. When students are sexually harassed and/or assaulted, they are often met with inaccessible resources and mere platitudes. According to law, students should be informed who their Title IX coordinator is and provided with confidential reporting. They also should be provided with easily-obtainable mental health resources.

In Duval County, educators have not been provided with the necessary resources and education to deal with instances of sexual harassment and support survivors. Their lack of knowledge leaves victims in the dark, without accessible resources, while sexual harassers are left completely unpenalized.

For the safety and well-being of young students in Duval County, it is imperative that we educate ourselves and others about issues of consent and sexual harassment. By signing this petition, you will help create a safer and more equitable environment for students, in which they can learn freely without fear of demeaning harassment.

- Duval County School District student Darshini Vancheeswaran