Office of Civil Rights
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Washington, D.C. |
| Agency executive |
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| Parent department | U.S. Department of Education |
| Key documents | |
| Website | ed |
The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) is a sub-agency of the U.S. Department of Education that is primarily focused on protecting civil rights in federally assisted education programs and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, handicap, age, or membership in patriotic youth organizations.
OCR is one of the largest federal civil rights agencies in the United States, with a staff of approximately 650 attorneys, investigators, and staff. The agency is located in twelve regional offices and in Washington, D.C., headquarters. The Office for Civil Rights is responsible for ensuring compliance by recipients of federal education funds with several federal civil rights laws, including:
In the case of school bullying school districts may violate these civil rights statutes and the Department of Educations's implementing regulations when peer harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex, sexual identity, or disability is sufficiently serious that it creates a hostile environment and such harassment is encouraged, tolerated, not adequately addressed, or ignored by school employees. Under these federal civil rights laws and regulations, students are protected from harassment by school employees, other students, and third parties.
The United States Assistant Secretary of Education for Civil Rights is the head of the OCR. The Assistant Secretary is also the primary civil rights adviser to the United States Secretary of Education.
Former Assistant Secretaries were Cynthia G. Brown (1980), Clarence Thomas (1981–1982), Harry M. Singleton (1982–1985), LeGree S. Daniels (1987–1989), Michael L. Williams (1990–1993), Norma V. Cantu (1993–2001), Gerald A. Reynolds (2002–2003), Stephanie J. Monroe (2005–2008), Russlynn Ali (2009-2012),Catherine E. Lhamon (August, 2013-January 2017)..
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