U.S.: District didn't properly probe 2 girls' assault claims

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (AP) — A school district failed to properly investigate allegations by two students that they were sexually assaulted at their Grand Rapids-area high school, the U.S. Department of Education said.

The department’s Office of Civil Rights found that Forest Hills Public Schools’ procedures for responding to sex discrimination weren’t effective and didn’t comply with Title IX, the statute designed to prevent students from discrimination based on their gender.

Forest Hills neglected to investigate most of the claims by one of the students and her parents, who said the girl was repeatedly harassed in school as retaliation after the 2010 assault, according to the Education Department report, which described how the 15-year-old girl was shoved in school hallways, bullied online and taunted at sporting events.

She stopped participating in after-school sports and eventually left Central High School, her attorneys said.

The girls said they were sexually assaulted by the same person — one in a school band room and the other in a school parking lot.

The then-15-year-old girl filed a federal lawsuit last month against the Forest Hills school district, Superintendent Daniel Behm and others.