Basketball Coach Reaches Settlement with Birmingham Board of Education
By Ranit Schmelzer, National Women's Law Center

In the 2005 Supreme Court Case, justices ruled that Roderick Jackson could sue for retaliation under Title IX. The Birmingham Board of Education and Roderick Jackson, a high school teacher and girls' basketball coach, reached a settlement in a long-running case that began in 2001 when Jackson was fired as a coach after he complained about the inequitable treatment of the girls' basketball team compared with the boys' team. The case drew national attention when in 2005 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Jackson v. Birmingham Board of Education that Title IX protections extend to people who complain of sex discrimination on behalf of themselves or others.

Under the settlement, the Board of Education agreed to provide relief for Coach Jackson and take all steps necessary to ensure a level playing field for female athletes in all its schools and programs, including: appointing Title IX Coordinators for the Birmingham school system and for each school within the system; adopting Title IX polices and grievance procedures; conducting all training necessary to ensure compliance with Title IX; and conducting a review of compliance with the Title IX athletics regulations in all schools and programs in the Birmingham school system and preparing public reports of the findings.

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