Trump Froze 36-Plus School Civil Rights Cases as OCR Completed Only 3 Harassment Settlements in 18 Months
Updated
Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 9
Trump Froze 36-Plus School Civil Rights Cases as OCR Completed Only 3 Harassment Settlements in 18 Months
3 articles · Updated · The Washington Post · Aug 9
Summary
More than three dozen school civil rights investigations that were essentially finished under Biden were left frozen after Trump returned, including cases involving racial slurs, sexual harassment and alleged staff misconduct.
Only 3 racial-harassment resolution agreements were completed in the past 18 months, versus 25 in 2024, after the administration cut OCR staff by more than half, closed 7 of 12 regional offices and shifted priorities.
In Chesaning, Michigan, federal investigators had drafted a January 2025 settlement requiring training, incident tracking, climate surveys and counseling for a Black girl who reported repeated racist abuse, but talks stopped and the case stalled.
Current and former staffers said similar near-settlement cases in Massachusetts, Colorado, Arizona, Texas and Louisiana were also left dormant, leaving schools without federally mandated remedies and complainants without closure.
The freeze comes as the administration plans to move much of OCR's work to the Justice Department, raising broader questions about how school discrimination complaints will be handled going forward.
As thousands of school harassment cases sit frozen, will transferring oversight to the Justice Department protect students or permanently bury their pleas?
With federal civil rights staff slashed by half, what hidden local avenues remain for families desperate to stop unchecked abuse in their schools?