Longview ISD Asks for Resolution in Title IX Probe

LONGVIEW — The complainant in a civil rights investigation of Longview ISD sports said Wednesday the district has asked the U.S. Department of Education for an early resolution. KETK and the Longview News-Journal report the district’s athletic program became the focus of a Title IX probe in February after a former girls soccer coach complained to the education department’s Office on Civil Rights. Title IX of the U.S. education code seeks to ensure boys and girls receive equal treatment in the classroom and on the field.

Chris Yoder, a teacher at Longview High School who resigned last summer as girls soccer coach, said Wednesday the civil rights office told him Tuesday the district had asked for early resolution. The district declined through its spokesman to comment on any aspect of the federal probe. The civil rights office Case Processing Manual says the Early Complaint Resolution requires both parties to “work constructively toward a mutually acceptable resolution.” “It’s not resolved,” Yoder said. “We’ve taken another step, and we’re closer.”

Department of Education spokesman Jim Bradshaw said in an email Wednesday he could not disclose much about the ongoing case. “About all we can tell you is that the case remains under investigation,” Bradshaw wrote the News-Journal. “We don’t discuss the details of our civil rights probes. That includes communications between the school district and OCR.”