The Wake County school board agreed early Wednesday to settle the Title IX civil rights complaint accusing the district of discriminating against female student-athletes.
Under this agreement, Wake will survey by Dec. 1 all female high school students and those in eighth grade to gauge their interest in sports that are not now offered by the district. Based on the results, Wake will add athletic opportunities at the high schools for the 2013-14 school year.
The National Women’s Law Center had filed a complaint against Wake and 11 other school systems throughout the United States in November 2010, accusing the systems of failing to provide high school girls with equal opportunities as boys to play interscholastic sports.
Wake school officials have denied they are discriminating against female students, saying they offer every women’s sport sanctioned by the N.C. High School Athletics Association, plus gymnastics. The voluntary agreement contains no admission of discrimination by Wake or finding of fault by the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.
