I was honored to speak recently at the Illinois Association of School Personnel Administrators (IASPA) Thirteenth Annual Conference on January 23, 2020. Franczek P.C. is a longtime, proud sponsor of IASPA and was a Silver Sponsor of this year’s conference. I saw many familiar faces in the room and throughout the conference center.  My topic–Title IX Fundamentals for Personnel Administrators–is always a hot one, because for many in human resources Title IX is an afterthought until something goes wrong. The key takeaway from my presentation? “It shouldn’t be!”

Even human resources administrators without formal Title IX responsibilities should be aware of the law and how it can impact employees. Whether they are ensuring Title IX training is adequately woven into staff development throughout the year or ensuring that the rights of accused employees are adequately protected in cases involving allegations of staff-on-student misconduct, HR administrators play an important role in the Title IX process at both the K-12 and higher education level.

One issue we discussed during the session was the ever-changing landscape of Title IX guidance and regulations from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. A common question these days is “I know changes are afoot, but what resources can I follow to know what the rules are now?” Of course, I mentioned this blog, to which I hope all of you subscribe. Specifically, we published a quick reference of current resources in September on this blog. I also recommended ATIXA, an organization for Title IX administrators that has has a wealth of free resources for both K-12 and higher education institutions that may be of interest to HR administrators, as well.

For more on the intersection between HR and Title IX, I encourage you to read an earlier post of ours on the topic.