VIA ELECTRONIC MAIL ONLY
February 19, 2019
Dr. Sue Savaglio-Jarvis
Superintendent of Schools
Kenosha Unified School District
3600 52nd Street
Kenosha, WI 53144
ssavgli@kusd.edu
Women’s Rights Project
National Office
125 Broad Street,
18th Floor
New York, NY 10004
Tel: (212) 549-2644
Fax: (212) 549-2644
aclu.org

Dan Wade
Kenosha Unified School Board President
dwade@kusd.edu
Ms. Sue Valeri
Chief of Student Leadership
Kenosha Unified School District
3600 52nd Street
Kenosha, WI 53144
svaleri@kusd.edu
Ms. Shana Lewis
Strang, Patteson, Renning, Lewis, & Lacy
660 W. Washington Ave., Suite 303
Madison, WI 53703
slewis@strangpatteson.com
Dear Dr. Savaglio-Jarvis, Mr. Wade, Ms. Valeri, and Ms.
Lewis:
The ACLU of Wisconsin and the ACLU Women’s Rights
Project write again to express serious concerns regarding
complaints of pervasive gender discrimination, including
sexual harassment, body shaming, and victim blaming, at two
schools located within the Kenosha Unified School District
(“KUSD”), specifically at Tremper and Bradford High Schools,
and to request that the District take prompt corrective action.
First, based upon reports we have received from former
KUSD employees and current parents and students,
specifically at Tremper High School, it is our understanding
that coaches hired by the District have engaged in
impermissible sexual harassment, sex discrimination, and
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 body shaming of Tremper High School cheerleaders at an annual awards
event. Second, we are concerned about public reports that teachers at
Bradford High School are teaching students about sexual assault in a
manner that inappropriately blames victims for their assaults. The District
must take immediate and decisive action to address these violations and to
prevent them from reoccurring.
Background

Events Related to Tremper High School Cheerleading Awards Ceremonies
For at least the past five (5) years, the Tremper High School
cheerleading squad has held an annual banquet at the end of each season
with members of the squad. There are typically at least 100 people that
attend this event including family members, friends, and members of the
KUSD community. Each year, the cheer coaches have distributed superlativetype awards to the members of the squad ranging from “most improved” to
“hardest worker.” We received disturbing reports that, in addition to the
more traditional awards, the Tremper coaches distributed three other awards
to girls on the cheer squad that objectify their bodies during the 2018
banquet: the “Big Boobie
Award” for the cheerleader with the biggest
breasts, the “String Bean Award” for the skinniest cheerleader, and the “Big
Booty
Award” for the cheerleader with the largest buttocks. Photos and
records received in response to the ACLU’s open records request confirm that
the “Big Boobie
” and “Big Booty
” award were also distributed in
2017. Additionally, during the 2017 banquet, a member of the cheerleading
squad with brown hair received a blonde wig as an award because she was
deemed a “ditzy girl.” One parent told the ACLU that in prior years, the
coaches made comments about girls’ vaginas. In addition to these awards,
parents have reported that the Tremper Cheer coaches have regularly
engaged in harassing language towards the cheerleaders during practices.
Students have left practice in tears, have felt shame about their bodies, and
have quit the squad due to comments made by coaches.
In March 2018, the Tremper Cheer coaches distributed the Big Boobie
, Big Booty
, and String Bean awards to three cheerleaders in
front of over 150 people. A parent reported that the coaches “laughed
hysterically” when handing the Big Boobie
award to its recipient and
made comments on the microphone about “what a feat” it was that this
student could maneuver through cheer routines with her “enormous boobs.”
The ACLU received video footage of the coaches handing the Big Booty
award to its recipient – when doing so, the coaches proclaimed in front of the
crowd, “We love her butt. Everybody loves her butt.”

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 Parents and at least one other Tremper High School athletic coach
contacted Tremper Principal, Steven Knecht, to report the incidents that
arose at the March 2018 banquet. Through an open records request to KUSD,
the ACLU obtained an email dated April 23, 2018 that another athletic coach
sent to Mr. Knecht about the cheer banquet incident. The coach stated, “I feel
that I need to tell you this for the protection of these girls . . . . I don’t think it
takes much to see that this is extremely degrading to women.” The same
coach contacted one of the cheer coaches directly about her concerns on April
24, 2018. She wrote, “The last thing these high school girls need is a fellow
woman in their lives communicating to them that they are objects or that
their appearance is something to be gawked at, demeaned, laughed at, or
even awarded for that matter.” The cheer coach responded on April 26, 2018,
“I honestly don’t feel that I need to explain myself about how we ran our
banquet. Actually we have ran it this way for years and have never had a
problem.”
In an April 28, 2018 email to the cheer coaches, Mr. Knecht stated that
Tremper had received complaints about the awards from four different people
and that he would launch an investigation into the allegations. After
persistent follow up from one parent, Mr. Knecht reported he could find no
evidence of wrongdoing on the part of the coaches. Mr. Knecht did not provide
this parent with any justification for his finding nor did he indicate to the
parent which school policies or procedures he relied upon in conducting the
alleged investigation. When the parent insisted Mr. Knecht had missed
something, he responded that the awards “were meant to be funny” and the
coaches were “just joking around.”
Parents also put the KUSD administration on notice about this event.
Ms. Sue Valeri, Chief of Student Leadership, met with a parent who reported
the actions of the coaches in April 2018. During this meeting, Ms. Valeri
reiterated what Mr. Knecht stated. The District has not once provided
complaining parents with written correspondence explaining its decisionmaking.
Records reveal that a KUSD Human Resources official met with the
lead cheer coach on May 8, 2018 to discuss the incident at the cheer banquet.
In a letter dated May 11, 2018, she directed the coach to write apology letters
to each student who received a “gag award.” She also directed the coach to
submit her resignation by June 14, 2018. She stated that if the coach planned
to advise the replacement coach in the following year, “Steven [Knecht] will
need to make a determination to what extent you will be allowed to interact
with students. We are advising that the interaction be minimum and your
role remains largely behind the scene.”

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 The ACLU obtained an August 14, 2018 memo from Mr. Knecht to Ms.
Valeri and Dr. Savaglio-Jarvis, the Superintendent of Schools. That memo
recounts the meeting between the Human Resources official and the head
coach from May, 2018. The memo states that although the head coach sent
apology emails, she declined to resign. The memo also states that Mr. Knecht
told the head coach that “she was welcome back as a co-coach” with her
supposed replacement. She has continued to directly coach the members of
the cheerleading squad throughout the 2018-2019 school year.
Unfortunately, this awards event is not an isolated incident: The
objectifying awards are just one example of a broader culture of body
shaming, victim blaming, and harassment throughout KUSD. As described in
the ACLU’s July 3, 2018 letter, KUSD teachers and administrators have
selectively enforced the dress code against female students in a manner that
reinforces invidious stereotypes. Both the awards ceremony and the selective
enforcement of the dress code against female students send the message to
girls that their worth lies in their physical appearance – not their academic
or athletic abilities.

Events Related to the Bradford High School Health Curriculum
Female students are also taught that they are at fault when they face
sexual harassment or violence.
Most recently, on December 17, 2018, students at Bradford High
School were instructed to watch a movie as a part of their health curriculum
in which a college freshman, Melissa, is drugged and raped by a fraternity
brother. The students were then told to fill out a worksheet that asked,
“What could have Melissa done differently to have avoided her sexual assault
(provide at least 4 examples)?” This question squarely places the blame for a
sexual assault on the victim, rather than the perpetrator who drugged and
raped her. Under no circumstance should students be taught that the onus is
on them to avoid being sexually assaulted.
Multiple parents submitted complaints to KUSD officials regarding the
inappropriate class assignment. In a public statement, KUSD stated,
“Bradford was asked to promptly remove this assignment from use. The
district will be doing a comprehensive review of the health curriculum
covering relationships and dating violence, consent and sexual assault to
avoid future incidents.” It is our understanding that KUSD has yet to inform
students and families about the results of its “comprehensive review,” the
steps it has taken (if any) to remedy the harmful victim-blaming lesson, and
its plans to reform its health curriculum moving forward.

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 Title IX, Wisconsin Pupil Nondiscrimination Law, and Equal Protection
Clause Concerns
As the ACLU has outlined in a prior demand letter to KUSD, we are
deeply concerned with the District’s ongoing, impermissible treatment of
female students. As a recipient of federal funds, KUSD must comply with
Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 (“Title IX”), which prohibits
sex discrimination—including sexual harassment—in education programs
that receive federal funds.1 A school or school district violates Title IX when it
receives notice that a teacher has engaged in sexually harassing behavior
against a student, and it reacts in a manner that is deliberately indifferent. 2
Sexual harassment under Title IX includes not just physical sexual acts, but
also verbal or nonverbal conduct that creates a hostile environment that
denies or limits a student’s ability to participate in or benefit from a school
program or activity, such as a sports team.3 Wisconsin’s Pupil
Nondiscrimination Law contains similar prohibitions.4 Similarly, the Equal
Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution provides public school students
with the right to be free from severe or pervasive sexual harassment that
unreasonably interferes with educational activities.5
KUSD officials were provided with actual notice that Tremper cheer
coaches were engaging in repeated harassing behavior that created a hostile
environment for students. Despite receiving this notice, KUSD officials failed
to take any meaningful corrective action. As a result, the cheer coaches have
continued to give out sexually objectifying awards and make other
inappropriate remarks to members of the squad. Numerous members of the
Tremper cheer squad have left practice in tears and quit the team because of
the emotional distress they experienced as a result of the coaches’
20 U.S.C. § 1681(a); Franklin v. Gwinnett, 503 U.S. 60, 75 (1992) (holding sexual
harassment by a coach against a student constitutes a form of sex discrimination prohibited
by Title IX).
2 Gebser v. Lago Vista Indep. Sch. Dist., 534 U.S. 274, 290-91 (1998)
3 See, e.g., Jennings v. University of North Carolina, 482 F.3d 686, 691, 695 (4th Cir. 2007)
(holding plaintiff proffered sufficient facts for a jury to find that a coach created a hostile
sexual environment in violation of Title IX where the coach made “sexually charged
comments in a team setting, even if not directed specifically to the plaintiff,” including
“comments about players’ bodies that portrayed them as sexual objects”); Department of
Education, Office for Civil Rights, Revised Sexual Harassment Guidance: Harassment of
Students by School Employees, Other Students, or Third Parties, 66 Fed. Reg. 5512 (Jan 19,
2001), https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/shguide.html.
4 Wis. Stat. § 118.13(1) (“[N]o person may be denied admission to any public school or be
denied participation in, be denied the benefits of or be discriminated against in any
curricular, extracurricular, pupil services, recreational or other program or activity because
of the person’s sex.”).
5 Jennings, 482 F.3d at 701; see also Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee , 555 U.S.
246 (2009) (holding that students facing sexual harassment in schools can seek concurrent
relief under both Title IX and § 1983, asserting violations of the Equal Protection Clause).
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 inappropriate comments and actions. KUSD has thus violated Title IX by
acting with deliberate indifference to complaints that female students were
subject to a hostile environment that denied or limited their ability to
participate on the cheerleading team. KUSD’s inaction also violates
Wisconsin’s Pupil Nondiscrimination Law and the Equal Protection Clause.
Similarly, KUSD officials have been provided with actual notice that
Bradford High School health teachers forced students to watch a movie about
sexual assault and fill out a worksheet asking how the sexual assault victim
could have avoided being assaulted. Numerous parents lodged complaints
that the worksheet taught their children the harmful message that girls are
at fault if they are assaulted. Unless KUSD takes prompt and effective action
to correct this violation and prevent it from reoccurring, it would violate Title
IX, Wisconsin’s Pupil Nondiscrimination Law, and the Equal Protection
Clause. The ACLU appreciates KUSD’s commitment to a “comprehensive
review” of its health curriculum, yet KUSD must inform all students and
families about the results of its review, the steps it has taken (if any) to
remedy the harmful victim-blaming lesson, and its plans to reform its health
curriculum moving forward.
Conclusion
For the aforementioned reasons, the ACLU has serious concerns that
KUSD is enabling sexual harassment in its schools in violation of Title IX,
Wisconsin’s Pupil Nondiscrimination Law, and the Equal Protection Clause
of the United States Constitution. The incidents described all reveal a culture
in which female students are objectified and sexualized, rather than valued
for their intellect or athleticism. Further, these students are taught that any
harassment they suffer is a result of the clothing they wear or their failure to
adequately fight back, rather than a perpetrator’s inappropriate behavior.
Accordingly, we demand KUSD take immediate action to address these
incidents. We urge KUSD to institute appropriate discipline against the staff
involved with the Tremper High School cheer awards and the Tremper and
KUSD administrators who failed to take adequate corrective action after
receiving complaints about the incidents. KUSD should institute robust,
mandatory anti-harassment training for all District employees, including
teachers, coaches, and administrative staff. We urge KUSD to release written
guidelines prohibiting school officials from commenting on students’ physical
appearances or making other remarks about their bodies or sexuality. We
also urge KUSD to release the results of its “comprehensive review” of the
health curriculum and to require all schools to implement a new sex
education curriculum that emphasizes healthy relationships, affirmative
consent, and sexual assault prevention, without placing any blame on victims
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 who are sexually assaulted. Finally, KUSD should provide written notice to
all students and parents in the District informing them of these remedial
steps.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter. We would
appreciate a response to this letter by Friday, March 1, 2019 describing the
steps KUSD plans to take to remedy the hostile environment in its schools.
We will continue to explore all available legal remedies to ensure KUSD
establishes a safe and equitable learning environment for all students.

Sincerely,

Asma Kadri
Staff Attorney
ACLU of Wisconsin
207 E. Buffalo St. #325
Milwaukee WI 53202

Emma Roth
Equal Justice Works Fellow
ACLU Women’s Rights Project
125 Broad Street, 18th Flo.
New York, NY 10004

Galen Sherwin
Senior Staff Attorney
ACLU Women’s Rights Project
125 Broad St., 18th Fl.
New York, NY 10004

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