Feds investigate 3 Michigan school districts on alleged sexual assault

DETROIT — The U.S. Department of Education has launched three more investigations into Michigan school districts, all in Metro Detroit, this time related to possible "staff on student sexual misconduct."

The Detroit Public Schools Community District, Taylor School District and the School District of the City of Pontiac are facing scrutiny along with 17 other districts across the country, according to reporting by ProPublica. This is at least the second investigation in six months into the Detroit school district by President Donald Trump's administration.

The U.S. Department of Education announced the investigations into 20 districts on July 10 but did not initially name the districts or states involved. The Detroit and Pontiac school districts confirmed Thursday that they each received a notice of the investigation and requests for information and said they would comply with the requests, but did not yet have specifics on the department's concerns. Taylor did not immediately return a request for comment.

Federal education officials have yet to release the data that reportedly sparked the investigations. The Office for Civil Rights launched the investigations based on 2023-24 school year civil rights data submissions self-reported by the district, according to the department's release. But data from that school year has been delayed and will possibly not be released until later this summer, Chalkbeat reported.

The U.S. Department of Education has launched three more investigations into Michigan school districts, all in Metro Detroit, this time related to possible "staff on student sexual misconduct."

The department's release said the districts' "submissions contained responses that suggest that districts might not be addressing staff on student sexual misconduct appropriately."

"The investigations will determine if the districts have appropriate policies and procedures in place to ensure accurate data collection and reporting of these incidents occurs and if their handling of allegations of sexual harassment, including sexual assault by district employees, complies with federal law," the statement said.

The Department of Education did not respond to an email Thursday that asked for the 2023-24 data or any additional comment. ProPublica published a story Tuesday saying the investigations were launched in the wake of the news outlet's investigation into California's teacher disciplinary system. But of the 20 investigations launched, just two were in California.

Office for Civil Rights investigations are often launched based on a complaint from someone in the community, like a parent, teacher or organization. Filing a complaint is often enough to open a federal investigation. But in this case, the department said this was a "directed investigation," meaning it was at the discretion of the Office for Civil Rights.

Other Department of Education probes in Trump's second term

These are not the first investigations in Michigan during Trump's second term, although historically, many investigations have been launched under previous presidents as well.

Critics have issued concerns that the Republican administration is weaponizing the Office for Civil Rights and the Department of Justice to investigate only a narrow subset of issues, including policies and practices protecting the rights of transgender students. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has said it is enforcing civil rights in areas that have been long overlooked, including antisemitism on college campuses.

Less than a month ago, the federal education department announced three Title IX investigations into Ann Arbor Public Schools, Monroe Public Schools and the Chippewa Valley School District.

The investigations aim to determine whether the districts violated Title IX by allowing athletes to participate on boys’ and girls' athletic teams and use locker rooms based on their self-professed "gender identities," according to the news release. Those investigations appeared to be based on complaints from parents.

Title IX prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any program or activity receiving federal financial assistance.

In February, the Department of Justice also announced it would launch three Title IX investigations, with one involving Detroit. The investigations targeted Detroit Public Schools Community District, Godfrey-Lee Public Schools and the Lansing School District related to the alleged mandatory inclusion of lessons on sexual orientation and gender ideology in health classes. Such topics are allowed by state law as long as parents have the right to opt their children out of those discussions.

Detroit and Pontiac districts discuss federal requests

In the newest case, Detroit's school district released a Thursday statement saying the Office for Civil Rights sent the district a letter on July 10 "indicating that they had concerns with data the District reported from the 2023-24 school year."

"The letter did not contain any specific allegations related to cases or mishandling of investigations," Detroit's statement said. "To our knowledge, we have accurately reported all Title IX matters involving students and staff and have implemented disciplinary action in accordance with all applicable federal and state laws, as well as internal DPSCD policy."

This week, it said, the district received a second letter "requesting information about the District’s policies and procedures for investigating and addressing reports of sexual harassment of students, and a request for comprehensive data of all formal and informal complaints or reports involving allegations of sexual harassment of students in each of the 2023-24 through 2025-26 school years."

The district said it intends to comply with the request.

The Pontiac school district issued a similar statement acknowledging receipt of communications from federal officials about the investigation.

"At this time, the District has not yet received the specific information necessary to fully evaluate the matters identified in OCR's letter," Pontiac Superintendent Kimberly Leverette said in the statement. "As the District learns more about the scope of the investigation, it intends to cooperate with OCR throughout the process."

The opening of an investigation, Leverette said, "is not evidence of a violation of federal civil rights laws or regulations."

"The District remains committed to complying with Title IX, as well as all applicable federal, state, and local laws and Board policies prohibiting discrimination," she said. "The District maintains Board policies addressing Title IX compliance and takes its obligations to provide a safe, nondiscriminatory educational environment for students and employees seriously."

The Trump administration, which has significantly downsized the education department in an effort to dismantle it completely, does not keep an online record of pending Office for Civil Rights cases as has been done in previous administrations. Other complaints that have triggered investigations or other direct investigations by the department that weren't publicly announced may not be known. The department's website has a list of pending cases and says it will be updated weekly — it was last updated on Jan. 14, 2025.

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