Parents, on behalf of and as next of friend of female students of Claremore Public Schools, filed suit on December 15, 2000 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Oklahoma against the Independent School District #1 (also known as Claremore Public Schools), alleging that the district had violated Title IX of the Education Amendment, 20 U.S.C. § 1681, and the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, by denying female students equal access and opportunity to participate in interscholastic and other school-sponsored athletics. The plaintiffs sought certification of all present and future female students of Claremore Public Schools as a class. The plaintiffs alleged that the school district had selected and offered sports and other athletic opportunities that discriminated against female students. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the school district discriminated against female students in the following areas: 1. funding of athletics, 2. equipment and supplies, 3. schedule of games and/or practice times, 4. travel and/or meals, 5. opportunity to receive qualified coaching, 6. assignment and compensation of coaches, 7. provision of locker rooms and facilities for practice and competition, 8. provision of training facilities and services, and 9. publicity. The plaintiffs sought declaratory judgment that the school district had violated the female students' rights and injunctive relief remedying the discriminatory conduct by, among other things, offering additional female athletic teams.

The parties held a settlement conference before Magistrate Judge Claire V. Eagan on January 19, 2001. The parties filed a Joint Stipulation of Dismissal on March 23, 2001. Chief Judge Terry C. Kern granted class certification and approved the settlement agreement on March 30, 2001.

In the settlement agreement, the school district agreed to offer interscholastic volleyball to grades 7-12, conditioned upon the identification of 13 students at either the middle school or high school level that played volleyball. The district also agreed to establish a ninth-grade fast-pitch volleyball team in the for the 2001-2002 school year if a minimum of 13 students indicated a commitment to participate on the team. Additionally, the district agreed to promote all athletic teams and opportunities, compensate coaches on a gender-neutral basis, and implement procedures for surveying interest in the establishment of other athletic programs for female students. The school district agreed to maintain records of funding and expenditures for both male and female sports teams, select and hire coaches for teams on a gender-neutral basis, establish the basketball schedules on a gender-neutral basis, provide access to the weight-room and other training facilities on a gender-neutral basis, and promote female athletic programs on an equivalent basis with that of male programs.

The case was dismissed on March 30, 2001.

Carlyn Williams - 02/10/2014


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