Tulare’s TK-8 school district under investigation by federal civil rights office
The Tulare City School District is being investigated by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights for failing to appropriately address allegations of sexual misconduct by district employees.
The school district of 10,000 TK-8 students in the city of Tulare, in Tulare County, is one of 20 school districts in 15 states being investigated by the federal government. In California, the Wilsona School District in Los Angeles County is also on the list.
The U.S. Department of Education said the Office for Civil Rights opened the investigations into school districts “whose 2023-24 Civil Rights Data Collection submissions contained responses that suggest that districts might not be addressing” sexual misconduct by staff appropriately.
It is unclear the number and the nature of the incidents the OCR is investigating. While the OCR is focusing its investigation on the 2023-24 school year, it is unclear if the district’s data collection submissions for other years were done appropriately or if reports of misconduct were submitted that year only.
In a statement to The Fresno Bee on Wednesday afternoon, the school district said it “takes all reports of employee misconduct seriously. When the district learns of potential misconduct of an employee, it investigates the matter in accordance with district policies, the law, and works closely with the appropriate authorities.”
The district did not disclose how many reports of employee misconduct the district received for the year the OCR is investigating.
The school district said that its top priority is student safety, success and well-being and that it will work with the U.S. Department of Education as it conducts its investigation.
The OCR said the investigations will focus on the districts’ policies and procedures that are currently in place are appropriate “to ensure accurate data collection and reporting of these incidents occurs and if their handling of allegations of sexual harassment, including sexual assault by district employees, complies with federal law.”
“The district is committed to providing a safe learning environment for our students,“ said the district’s statement.
The OCR launched this month a national K-12 initiative to protect students from sexual predators in schools. The Department of Education said in a news release on July 10 that “credible reports of sexual abuse and harassment by adults in positions of authority“ are going uninvestigated, or those suspected of sexual misconduct were transferred to new schools or roles within the school districts.
“Our schools must protect America’s children. Parents should never have to wonder whether their kids’ school employs and protects sexual predators,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon said in a statement.
McMahon said the initiative will hold school districts accountable.
Guidance was issued by the Trump administration to remind school districts receiving federal funding of their legal obligations to respond to incidents of sexual misconduct under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.
This story was originally published July 15, 2026 at 4:40 PM with the headline "Tulare’s TK-8 school district under investigation by federal civil rights office."
