## Facts

- A kindergarten student in Barnstable, Massachusetts reported that an older boy on her school bus repeatedly coerced her to lift her dress.
- Her parents notified school officials, who investigated by interviewing the boy, the bus driver, and other students.
- School officials concluded the investigation produced insufficient corroboration to discipline the boy.
- The parents sought remedial measures (including a bus monitor and separation/removal measures), which the superintendent declined.
- Police investigated separately and found insufficient evidence to pursue criminal charges.
- The parents sued the school committee and officials alleging Title IX violations and an Equal Protection claim under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 (plus state-law claims).
- The district court dismissed the § 1983 and state-law claims and later granted summary judgment to defendants on the Title IX claim; the First Circuit affirmed, holding Title IX foreclosed the § 1983 constitutional claim.

## Issues

1. Whether Title IX’s implied private right of action is the exclusive federal remedy for sex discrimination in federally funded schools, thereby precluding a § 1983 action alleging sex discrimination under the Equal Protection Clause.

## Decision

- The Court held unanimously that Title IX does not preclude § 1983 suits alleging unconstitutional sex discrimination in schools.
- The Court vacated the First Circuit’s judgment and remanded for further proceedings, permitting the plaintiffs to pursue their § 1983 equal-protection claim.

## Legal Principles

- A federal statute precludes § 1983 enforcement only when Congress created a remedial scheme so comprehensive that it shows intent to foreclose § 1983.
- Title IX’s enforcement structure (agency fund-termination authority plus an implied private action) is not sufficiently comprehensive to infer preclusion of § 1983 constitutional claims.
- Differences between Title IX and the Equal Protection Clause matter in the preclusion analysis: Title IX targets federally funded entities and generally does not provide individual-capacity liability, while § 1983 can reach individual state actors for constitutional violations.
- Because Title IX and equal-protection claims do not necessarily address the same defendants or conduct, Title IX is read to supplement rather than replace constitutional remedies absent a clear congressional directive.

## Conclusion

The Court ruled that Title IX is not an exclusive mechanism for addressing sex discrimination in education and does not displace § 1983 actions seeking to vindicate Equal Protection rights, allowing plaintiffs to pursue parallel statutory and constitutional claims.


Fitzgerald v. Barnstable Sch. Comm., 555 U.S. 246 (2009)