9.5 General Provisions

District employees, supervisors and administrators are required to immediately report any complaints, reports, observations, or other alleged information or alleged discrimination, including harassment and retaliation, to the designated coordinator, even if that district employee is investigating the alleged discrimination as a part of the district’s student or employee disciplinary process, and provide the Complainant with information for filing a complaint form if requested, and contact information for the district’s designated coordinator. If the district is using its disciplinary procedures to investigate and resolve an alleged discrimination complaint, those disciplinary procedures will comply with the district’s standards for a prompt and equitable grievance procedure.

Any time limits set by these procedures may be extended by mutual consent of the parties involved. The total number of days from the date the complaint is filed until the Board of Education issues a final decision shall be no more than 120 days.

Upon request, the Coordinator shall provide copies of any regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, color, sex, pregnancy, gender, gender expression or identity, national origin, religion, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, age or genetic information. 

Complaint records will remain confidential, to the extent allowed by law, unless permission is given by the parties involved to release such information. All complaint records will be kept separate from the other records of the district. No complaint record shall be entered in any personnel file unless adverse employment action is taken against an employee. Complaint records shall be maintained on file for 3 years after complaint resolution.

The Grievant and the Respondent may have a representative assist them through the grievance process and accompany them to any hearing. 

After all facts and circumstances are reviewed, the district shall take any and all disciplinary actions to prevent further harassment or discrimination. Possible disciplinary or remedial actions include, but are not limited to: education, training and counseling, transfer, and/or suspension of a secondary student, expulsion of an adult students, and education, training, counseling, transfer, suspension and/or termination or an employee.

The district prohibits retaliation, intimidation, threats, or coercion of any person for opposing discrimination or for participating in the district’s discrimination complaint process or making a complaint, testifying, assisting, appealing, or participating in any other discrimination complaint proceeding or hearing. The district will take steps to prevent the alleged perpetrator or anyone else at the district from retaliating against the alleged victim or any person who acts to oppose discrimination or participates in the complaint process.

These steps include notifying students and employees that they are protected from the retaliation, making sure that victims know how to report future problems and making follow-up inquiries to see if there have been any new incidents. If retaliation occurs, the district will take strong responsive action.

At each step in the grievance procedure, the decision maker will take or recommend the taking of appropriate measures based on the facts, as revealed by the investigation and hearing, taken as a whole, and the totality of the circumstances, such as the nature, extent, context and gravity of the activities or incidents. Any disciplinary decision will be made as a proportional response to the violation.

For information concerning the impartial hearing and review procedures under Section 504, the Grievant should contact:

Kristy Barnett
Great Plains Technology Center
4500 SW Lee Boulevard
Lawton, OK 73505 
(580) 355-6371

The district will notify all students, parents and guardians, members of the public and employees of the name, address and telephone number of each Coordinator and the Grievance Procedure in writing via school website, publications and/or postings at each campus to which employees or students are assigned.

Individuals may also file complaints alleging discrimination, harassment, or retaliation with the Office of Civil Rights. The OCR may be contacted at:

US Department of Education
Office for Civil Rights
One Petticoat Lane
1010 Walnut Street – Suite 320
Kansas City, MO 6419=06
(816) 268-0550
(816)268-0599 (Fax)
(877) 521-2172 (TTY)
Email: OCT.KansasCity@ed.gov