The U.S. Department of Education announced new protocol earlier this summer in dealing with religious discrimination or bullying in public schools by requiring public schools to report instances of religious discrimination.
The Department’s Office for Civil Rights created a new page on its website that outlines students’ rights and provides other resources on religious discrimination as well as an updated complaint form.
Public schools across the country are now required to report cases of harassment or discrimination based on religion to the Civil Rights Data Collection beginning the 2015-2016 school year. It clarifies that the Office of Civil Rights will investigate complaints if students are subjected to ethnic or ancestral slurs or are bullied based on outer appearance, including the way they dress or speak. Furthermore, the Department will provide resources to schools beginning in October to help combat the issue.
The new initiative comes in the face of rising anti-Muslim sentiment across the nation. According to the Huffington Post, over 260 acts of violence, discrimination, and hateful speech toward Muslims in the United States have been recorded so far this year.
Catherine E. Lhamon, the Department of Education’s Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights, said that “students of all religions should feel safe, welcome and valued in our nation’s schools,” in a statement.
Read more about it here: http://bit.ly/2cQFUmj