Sexual Harassment Policy

It is the policy of the Governing Board of the San Ramon Valley Unified School District to provide an educational and work environment free of unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal visual or physical conduct or communications constituting sexual harassment, as defined by Education Code 212.5 and otherwise prohibited by state and federal statutes.

Prohibited sexual harassment includes, but is not limited to, unwelcome sexual advances, requests for sexual favors, and other verbal, visual, or physical conduct of a sexual nature, made by someone from or in the work or educational setting, under any of the following conditions (Education Code 212.5):

• Submission to the conduct is explicitly or implicitly made a term or a condition of an individual's employment, academic status, or progress.
• Submission to, or rejection of, the conduct by the individual is used as the basis of employment or academic decisions affecting the individual.
• The conduct has a purpose or effect of having a negative impact upon the individual's work or academic performance, or of creating an intimidating, hostile, or offensive work or educational environment.
• Submission to, or rejection of the conduct by the individual is used as the basis for any decision affecting the individual regarding benefits and services, honors, programs, or activities available at or through the educational institution.

Other types of conduct which are prohibited in the district and which many constitute sexual harassment include:

Verbal or written conduct: making derogatory comments, including epithets, slurs, jokes, etc.; sexual propositions or flirtations, graphic commentary about an individual's body; sexually degrading words used to describe an individual; suggestive or obscene letters, notes or invitations; spreading sexual rumors.
Visual conduct: leering; making sexual gestures; displaying sexually suggestive objects, pictures, books, magazines, etc.
Physical conduct: inappropriate touching or impeding one's movement.

Every student, employee or applicant has the right to be free from harassment from adults and/or from students in the work or educational setting. The district prohibits retaliatory behavior against any complainant or any participant in the complaint process. Each complaint of sexual harrassment shall be promptly investigated in a way that respects the privacy of all parties concerned.

A copy of this policy on sexual harassment shall be