A 7th grade girl in Louisiana alleges that a male classmate made “inappropriate comments” to her and touched her on the thigh. The school suspended the boy and ordered him to stay away from the girl. After a subsequent complaint from the parents, the school changed the girl’s schedule so that she would not share a class with the boy. All that is alleged after that is that the two students sometimes passed in the hall and the boy “would smile at [the girl] and laugh as he passed.”

Was there more to it? If so, it didn’t make its way into the 5th Circuit’s decision. The court took all of one page to conclude that this type of treatment was not “severe and pervasive” and the school’s response was not “deliberately indifferent.” No Title IX claim here. The whole thing made me think of Maria Muldaur’s song, “Don’t You Feel My Leg.” Check it out, Loyal Daily Dawg Readers!

It’s anticipated that the new Biden-era Title IX regs will be finalized and put in place sometime next month. Even with those new regs, behavior as it is alleged here will not meet the “sex discrimination” standard in Title IX. That’s not to suggest a complaint along these lines should be ignored. It wasn’t ignored in this case, which is one reason why the school successfully got the suit dismissed. It’s Kirkpatrick v. School Board of Lafayette Parish, decided by the 5th Circuit in an unpublished decision on April 3, 2023.

DAWG BONE: LOOK FOR FINAL T9 REGS SOON. WE’LL BE ALL OVER IT.

Got a question or comment for the Dawg? Let me hear from you at jwalsh@wabsa.com.

Tomorrow: talking about DOIs….