FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS:
Julianna Gesiotto, California Women’s Law Center
(323) 951-9847, julianna.gesiotto@cwlc.org.
Elizabeth Kristen, Legal Aid at Work
(415) 593-0052, ekristen@legalaidatwork.org.
TEN-YEAR MONITORING PERIOD ENDS IN TITLE IX CLASS ACTION AGAINST SWEETWATER UNION HIGH SCHOOL DISTRICT
Concluding a Decade of Improvements to Girls’ Athletic Facilities, Opportunities, and Distribution of Resources at Castle Park High School and Beyond.
LOS ANGELES, CA – November 18, 2024 – Last month marked the end of federal court ordered monitoring and the close of a 17-year-long case for equity in girls’ high school sports at Castle Park High School in the Sweetwater District in San Diego California. After a decade of Title IX compliance work, the parties agreed that the District had complied with the court-ordered Joint Compliance Plan entered following hard-fought litigation and a successful bench trial and appeal. Judge James Lorenz agreed to end court jurisdiction over the case on October 25, 2024. Now, the parties can celebrate the District’s lasting commitment to girls’ athletic equity.
The case, Ollier v. Sweetwater Union High School, et al., was brought by five brave young women on behalf of all girls at the school and filed in 2007 by the California Women’s Law Center, Manatt, Phelps, & Phillips, LLP, and Legal Aid at Work. The girls sued for injunctive relief under Title IX of the 1972 Education Amendments, which bars sex discrimination in education, including athletic programs.
The case detailed the consistently superior quality of playing and practice facilities for the boys’ football and baseball teams, compared to those provided for the girls’ teams. The boys had dedicated locker rooms for just the football team and access to the best athletic amenities. Female athletes did not have comparable facilities. The fields where the girls were required to practice and play were overused, rundown and sometimes unsafe.
When parents and students complained about these Title IX violations at CPHS, the administration retaliated against the girls by firing their highly qualified, beloved coach and by refusing to allow qualified parents to assist the new coach, despite the fact the baseball team was allowed to have parent coaches.
After litigating the case for seven years and winning in both the trial and appellate courts, the parties entered a ten-year compliance plan in 2014 so that the school district would be held accountable to remedy the issues outlined in the lawsuit. Throughout that decade, class counsel reviewed numerous reports every year which detailed the District’s actions to come into compliance with Title IX. From updated fields and facilities, to regular Title IX athletics trainings, to increasing the opportunities available for girls in sports, the District steadily made progress toward equity.
“It has been so fulfilling to work on this case from its infancy through to the end, nearly twenty years after the College Park softball girls first contacted us about discrimination,” said Elizabeth Kristen, counsel for plaintiffs. “And now, the teenaged girls who just wanted fair play for their team are full-grown young women with a legacy of equality behind them including making lasting changes for their younger sisters and other girls.”
“While in many ways this is the end of an era, I also know it is just the beginning,” said Veronica Ollier, plaintiff and former CPHS student and softball team member. “When we started this process, we had no idea how long it would take, but seeing the tangible results for the girls in my hometown, I can say it was absolutely worth it.”
“Over fifty years after Title IX became law, we still regularly see schools and school districts fail to comply with the law’s clear mandates for athletic equity for girls. The Sweetwater case set great legal precedent for equality in California schools and serves as a reminder to other districts that gender equity in sports is not just what is right – it’s the law,” said Julianna Gesiotto, staff attorney for the California Women’s Law Center, counsel for plaintiffs.
“For the past 17 years, the Sweetwater case has served as a reminder of the rights enshrined in Title IX that had been denied to the girls at Castle Park High School and of the systemic change necessary to make certain it never happens again,” said Esra Hudson, partner and leader of the employment and labor practice at Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP, which also served as counsel for plaintiffs. “The compliance period in this case meant that not only did the CPHS 2007 softball team secure victory in the eyes of the law, but they also ensured lasting change for all future girls at their alma mater and across California.”
Although Title IX cases at the college level are often highly publicized, discrimination is just as likely to occur at the K-12 level. Discrimination in elementary and high schools often goes unchecked because younger athletes and their parents may not be aware that anti-discrimination laws apply to public educational institutions as well as private educational institutions that receive federal funding. Each school system is required to implement and enforce Title IX.
About the California Women’s Law Center
Since its founding in 1989, the California Women’s Law Center (CWLC) has worked to eliminate the barriers that keep women and girls in poverty. CWLC advances systemic reforms through gender discrimination, health, violence against women, and reproductive justice initiatives, ensuring that life opportunities for women and girls are free from unjust social, economic, and political constraints. CWLC is a leader in Title IX education and enforcement in California at the high school level.
About Legal Aid at Work
Legal Aid at Work partners with people to help them understand and assert their workplace rights, and we advocate for employment laws and systems that empower low-paid workers and marginalized communities. Legal Aid at Work’s Fair Play for Girls in Sports project spurs schools and parks and recreation departments to treat girls equally on and off the field. Focusing particularly on girls of color and girls who live in low-income communities, this work promotes the health, educational achievement, and future employment opportunities of girls in grades K-12. www.legalaidatwork.org.