Award for lead plaintiff in important Title IX victory[:zh]Award for lead plaintiff in important Title IX victory

Lead Plaintiff for Title IX Ollier v. Sweetwater Veronica Ollier

Legal Aid at Work is celebrating the induction of Veronica Ollier Lewandowski, lead plaintiff in Ollier v. Sweetwater, into the Impact Fund’s “Class Action Hall of Fame.” The fund recognized her for the essential role she played in winning a unanimous ruling from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applying Title IX gender equity for girls playing sports in kindergarten through high school.

Ollier v. Sweetwater began nearly a decade ago at Castle Park High School in Chula Vista, Calif., as Lewandowski and her teammates — backed by Legal Aid at Work and our co-counsel at California Women’s Law Center and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips — took a stand against what had been systemic discrimination against female athletes at their school.

“It was devastating when the school administration fired our coach because of complaints to the school about the unequal treatment us girls were getting,” Lewandowski wrote in a blog post.

Preferential treatment of male athletes ranged from better locker rooms and training facilities to more funding and better game and practice schedules. Lewandowski and her softball teammates called out this discriminatory treatment and stood their ground for nearly a decade as the case moved through the courts. Title IX of the Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act mandates that schools receiving any federal funding provide equal programs and facilities for girls and boys.

In the end, the Sweetwater Union School District committed to ensuring gender equity into the future and has allocated millions of dollars to improving the fields where Lewandowski and her teammates used to play.

Lewandowski, who grew up to be an elementary school special education teacher, recalled that she and her teammates endured criticism from friends, family, and community members for standing up for the rights of female athletes. But that, she writes, “did not compare with the progress we made in the case and the feeling we had when walking into a deposition or the courtroom, knowing we had a voice and knowing we would be heard—to ensure all female students at our school have things like equal athletic facilities.”

Visit the web page for Legal Aid at Work’s Fair Play project if you or someone you know has questions about the facilities and opportunities offered by a school or community athletic program. Or give us a call at 415-864-8848.[:zh]Legal Aid at Work is celebrating the induction of Veronica Ollier Lewandowski, lead plaintiff in Ollier v. Sweetwater, into the Impact Fund’s “Class Action Hall of Fame.” The fund recognized her for the essential role she played in winning a unanimous ruling from the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals applying Title IX for girls playing sports in kindergarten through high school.

Ollier v. Sweetwater began nearly a decade ago at Castle Park High School in Chula Vista, Calif., as Lewandowski and her teammates — backed by Legal Aid at Work and our co-counsel at California Women’s Law Center and Manatt, Phelps & Phillips — took a stand against what had been systemic discrimination against female athletes at their school.

“It was devastating when the school administration fired our coach because of complaints to the school about the unequal treatment us girls were getting,” Lewandowski wrote in a blog post.

Preferential treatment of male athletes ranged from better locker rooms and training facilities to more funding and better game and practice schedules. Lewandowski and her softball teammates called out this discriminatory treatment and stood their ground for nearly a decade as the case moved through the courts. Title IX of the Education Amendments to the Civil Rights Act mandates that schools receiving any federal funding provide equal programs and facilities for girls and boys.

In the end, the Sweetwater Union School District committed to ensuring gender equity into the future and has allocated millions of dollars to improving the fields where Lewandowski and her teammates used to play.

Lewandowski, who grew up to be an elementary school special education teacher, recalled that she and her teammates endured criticism from friends, family, and community members for standing up for the rights of female athletes. But that, she writes, “did not compare with the progress we made in the case and the feeling we had when walking into a deposition or the courtroom, knowing we had a voice and knowing we would be heard—to ensure all female students at our school have things like equal athletic facilities.”

Visit the web page for Legal Aid at Work’s Fair Play project if you or someone you know has questions about the facilities and opportunities offered by a school or community athletic program. Or give us a call at 415-864-8848.

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