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Sex-Segregated Schools: Separate and Unequal
The ACLU Women's Rights Project works to ensure that public schools do not become sex-segregated and that girls and boys receive equal educational opportunities. In recent years, many school districts have introduced programs that allow for expanded use of single-sex education, often presenting these programs as quick-fix solutions to the array of problems facing many public schools. This trend sharply accelerated in October 2006, when the U.S. Department of Education announced new Title IX regulations making it easier for public schools to implement single-sex schools and classrooms.
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Title IX and Sexual Violence in Schools
Sexual violence in schools and on campus is a pressing civil rights issue: when students suffer sexual assault and harassment, they are deprived of equal and free access to an education.  Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in any education program or activity that receives federal funding. Title IX is a powerful tool for students who want to combat sexual assault, including rape, and sexual harassment at school and on college campuses.
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Alabama School District Agrees To End Illegal Sex Segregation (05/08/2009)
ASHVILLE, AL – The St. Clair County School System in Alabama has agreed to stop sex segregation in public schools after being notified by the American Civil Liberties Union that sex segregated programs are illegal and discriminatory.

Alabama School District Agrees To End Illegal Sex Segregation (03/25/2009)
MOBILE, AL – The Mobile County School System has agreed to stop sex segregation in public schools after being notified by the American Civil Liberties Union that its sex segregated programs were illegal and discriminatory. Late last evening, the Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County approved a settlement agreement changing the policy.

ACLU Asks Alabama School Districts To Disclose Documents On Sex Segregated Programs (12/15/2008)

ACLU Warns Alabama School District That Its Mandatory Sex Segregation Program Is Illegal And Discriminatory (11/12/2008)
MOBILE, AL – After hearing from outraged parents of students who, without notice, were involuntarily segregated by sex at Hankins Middle School in Mobile, Alabama, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Alabama sent a letter to the Mobile County School System today warning that mandatory sex segregation in public schools is illegal and discriminatory. The civil liberties organization also asked, under the Alabama Open Records Act, that the school district make public any and all documents relating to sex segregation policies in Mobile County schools from the past two years.

ACLU Represents Students In Challenge To Sex Segregation In Kentucky Public School (05/19/2008)
LOUISVILLE, KY - On behalf of five families, the American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Kentucky filed an amended complaint in federal court today charging that segregating classes by sex in Breckinridge County Middle School is illegal and discriminatory. The ACLU's lawsuit expands a previous lawsuit filed by a private attorney against the Breckinridge County School District and other county entities to include the U.S. Department of Education.

Sex-Segregated Schools: Just the Facts (05/14/2008)

Boys' Brains v. Girls' Brains: What Sex Segregation Teaches Students (05/14/2008)

Venus and Mars in Separate Classrooms? (06/01/2007)
Emily J. Martin, Deputy Director of the ACLU Women's Rights Project, discusses a growing trend in sex-segregated public education in the Spring 2007 issue of F.A.W.L. Journal, a publication of the Florida Association for Women Lawyers.

Letter to Harvard President Larry Summers (01/27/2005)
The Women's Rights Project joined with other organizations to call on Harvard President Larry Summers to rescind his recent statements that implied women's under representation in the math and sciences is due to innate differences.

Ask Sybil Liberty About Your Right to Equality in Education (12/31/1997)
ACLU's resident expert, Sybil Liberty, answers common questions about students' rights from a student point of view.

Mobile County School System Settlement Ending Sex Segregation (03/24/2009)

Baldwin County Public School System Open Records Act Request (12/15/2008)

Fayette County Public School System Open Records Act Request (12/15/2008)

Chilton County Public School System Open Records Act Request (12/15/2008)

St. Clair County Public School System Open Records Act Request (12/15/2008)

Letter Urging Governor Crist to Veto Sex Segregation Law (04/10/2008)
On April 10, 2008 the ACLU of Florida and the ACLU Women's Rights Project sent a letter to Governor Crist of Florida, urging him to veto S.B. 242, which would amend state law to permit public schools to segregate students by sex.

ACLU of Michigan Statement on H.B. 4264 (06/14/2007)
Statement by the ACLU of Michigan regarding H.B. 4264, a bill on sex-segregated schools

ACLU Comments on Proposed Changes to Single-Sex Regulations (04/23/2004)
The ACLU's comments in opposition to the Department of Education's proposal to amend the regulations implementing Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972.

ACLU Letter to the Department of Education on Single-Sex Proposed Regulations Comments (04/23/2004)

Coalition Letter to Congress Urging Support for Current Title IX Athletic Policies (05/22/2003)

St. Clair County Board of Education Letter Re: Ending Sex Segregated Program (05/05/2009)

Sex-Segregated Schools: Just the Facts (05/19/2008)

Boys' Brains v Girls' Brains: What Sex Segregation Teaches Students (05/19/2008)

Clients in the ACLU's Title IX Work (06/21/2007)

What Can You Do to Promote Educational and Athletic Opportunity for Girls? (06/20/2007)

Fact Sheet: Title IX and Sexual Assault — Know Your Rights and Your College's Responsibilities (10/02/2008)

Sex Segregated Schools: Just the Facts (02/28/2008)

Boys' Brains vs. Girls' Brains: What Sex Segregation Teaches Students (02/28/2008)

Fitzgerald v. Barnstable School Committee (08/29/2008)
Whether Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, which generally prohibits sex discrimination in federally-funded schools, bars public school students from also challenging sex discrimination as a violation of the Constitution.DECIDED

Alabama Open Records Act Requests (12/15/2008)
The American Civil Liberties Union and the ACLU of Alabama asked several Alabama school districts to make public any and all documents relating to sex segregation policies in public schools from the past two years. The request was made under the Alabama Open Records Act.

A.N.A. v. U.S. Department of Education (05/19/2008)
This class action suit challenges the lawfulness of a Kentucky school district’s policy of segregating its students by sex and thus exposing them to a learning environment that is fundamentally unequal in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment, Title IX, the Equal Educational Opportunities Act, and KY sex equity law.

J.K. v. Arizona Board of Regents (02/26/2008)
The plaintiff in this case, a student at Arizona State University ("ASU"), was raped in her dormitory room by an ASU football player. ASU administrators had expelled the harasser for severe sexual harassment of multiple women at ASU over the summer, and then weeks later arranged to re-admit him – with no supervision – to ASU and to the ASU dorms where he raped the plaintiff a few months later.

Simpson v. University of Colorado (08/24/2006)
The appellants in this case, Lisa Simpson and Anne Gilmore, alleged that while they were students at the University of Colorado (CU) they were sexually assaulted by CU football players and recruits. They sued the University for sexual harassment. They lost in the trial court and appealed to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.