photo by: Kim Callahan/Journal-World

James Killian is pictured on Sept. 25, 2025, outside the Douglas County District Attorney’s Office with a sign protesting how he believes he was treated in his criminal case.

A federal civil rights investigation has been opened into the Lawrence school district after a parent filed a lawsuit claiming the district didn’t properly investigate allegations of sexual harassment.

Douglas County resident James Killian filed the federal lawsuit earlier this year, alleging that the Lawrence school district violated the civil rights of his daughter while she was a student at Liberty Memorial Central Middle School. He is seeking a jury trial over whether the district properly investigated Title IX complaints that a teacher had inappropriately touched and “leered” at the girl on two occasions, once in October 2023 and another time in February 2024. The teacher is not a defendant in the suit; the school district is the only defendant.

On Tuesday, Killian shared a letter with the Journal-World from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, or OCR. In it Jennifer Brooks, a supervisory attorney with the OCR, said that because the office has jurisdiction over the district pursuant to Title IX, it will be opening the investigation to determine “(w)hether the District discriminated against the Student based on sex by failing to respond to reports that the Student was sexually harassed.”

The OCR enforces federal laws prohibiting discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, disability or age. Among the laws it enforces is Title IX, the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in any public school. The law requires that a school district take several steps after receiving a Title IX complaint, and Killian is alleging the district failed to take many of those steps.

During the investigation, the OCR will collect and analyze relevant evidence from the complainant, the recipient and other sources, as appropriate, according to the U.S. Department of Education’s website. The office will also conduct interviews and even site visits as necessary.

The office will then determine whether there is sufficient evidence that the recipient failed to comply with the law, and those findings will be shared with both parties. If the office finds that the district violated civil rights laws, it will seek to negotiate a voluntary resolution agreement. This agreement, once signed, outlines specific actions the district will take to correct the noncompliance, and OCR will monitor its implementation to ensure the violations are remedied. If the district refused to enter such an agreement, OCR would then be able to pursue enforcement actions, including suspending, terminating or denying federal funding, or referring the case to the Department of Justice.

In a recent filing in the lawsuit, the district responded to Killian’s complaint on Monday and largely denied the allegations of procedural failures, mishandling and an inadequate investigation into the sexual harassment complaints.

The district admitted some facts — such as that Killian’s daughter was a student, that complaints were made, and that a Title IX coordinator was involved. In multiple instances, the district acknowledged, the girl reported concerns to school officials, including a school resource officer and administrators. However, the district also denied that “the complaint rose to the level of sexual harassment or sex discrimination.”

The district also disputed many of Killian’s claims about how it handled the situation.

It denied allegations that it failed to respond appropriately, that it ignored complaints or that it violated its policies or federal law. The district positioned its handling of the complaints as consistent with Title IX requirements and disputed claims that it had failed to investigate or provide proper remedies.

The Lawrence school district also filed a motion on Monday asking the court to dismiss one part of the lawsuit — the claim for outrage and intentional infliction of emotional distress. The district argues that Killian did not follow required Kansas law before making that claim.

Specifically, the law says plaintiffs must give a government entity advance notice of a tort claim and then wait 120 days for a response before filing suit, but Killian submitted notice and filed the lawsuit on the same day.

The complaint claims that the district’s actions went beyond negligence and were so extreme that they caused severe, lasting emotional harm to Killian and his daughter. It says Killian’s daughter suffered “pain of mind, shock, emotional distress, physical manifestations of emotional distress, embarrassment, loss of self-esteem, disgrace, [and] humiliation,” along with missed educational opportunities and ongoing treatment needs.

The lawsuit is asking for a jury trial and is seeking monetary damages in excess of $75,000 for various costs, including therapy for the student, who no longer attends school in the Lawrence district.

In February 2024, Killian was charged with four counts of stalking people, including School Resource Officer Daniel Affalter II, and four misdemeanor counts of harassment by telecommunications device, plus one felony count of criminal threat. He took a plea deal in December 2024 in which six charges, including the felony, were dropped in exchange for a no contest plea to one count of stalking and two counts of harassment by telecommunications device. He was ordered to a year of probation, which has now been served.