On December 12th, 2021 the Tampa Bay Times released an investigative report by Bethany Barnes. The article detailed years of sexual harassment, assault, and rape at Howard W. Blake High in Hillsborough County. It also described how the Hillsborough County School District retaliated and punished victims who reported their sexual abuse. The article included accounts of abuse and retaliation dating from the present to 2011 when Hillsborough County faced a federal investigation into Title IX violations. 

The Hillsborough County School District has not taken any action to address the accusations of the article. Furthermore, the school board has stayed silent, refusing to provide comment or publicly acknowledge the pain caused. 

We the citizens, students, parents and teachers of Hillsborough County are demanding action. We demand an independent investigation into the policies, procedures and actions of Hillsborough County Schools. We demand the immediate firing of all faculty, teachers, and administrators found to be complicit in coverup of sexual abuse and retaliation against victims who came forward. Finally, we demand Hillsborough County begin a public Title IX information campaign throughout all its schools. 

Join us in signing this petition and demanding immediate action from those who failed the children of Hillsborough County.