A 26-year-old survivor is being asked to pay $250,000 in court costs after losing a Title IX case. Her appeal is still pending—but Fairfax County School Board wants to make an example of her. 

 Tell FCPS: Stand for Justice, Not Retaliation.

On September 19, 2025, at 10:00 a.m., the Fairfax County School Board (FCSB) will ask a federal judge to order a former middle school student—who was sexually assaulted at age 12—to pay $250,000 in discretionary court costs. Why? Because she lost her Title IX lawsuit after a six-week trial, even though her appeal is still pending

In 2011, “Kate,” a 12-year-old student at Rachel Carson Middle School, was repeatedly sexually assaulted by older youths. Even though her main assailant had a known history of misconduct—including exposing himself in class just months earlier—school officials ignored Kate’s pleas, covered up what happened, and punished her. 

Despite a positive rape kit, a police report, and formal complaints to the superintendent, Kate was placed on homebound instruction. The perpetrator faced no real consequences. Her family was forced to leave the state. More than a decade later, Kate still carries the emotional and physical injuries of what she endured in middle school. 

Prompted by Kate’s complaint, a federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) found that FCPS may have violated federal law and forced the district into a Title IX settlement that made the district revamp how it handled claims of sexual harassment and assault. 

Unfortunately, systemic problems remained. Despite the resolution with OCR, FCPS has since faced multiple lawsuits and even criminal charges against principals for failing to report abuse. In 2019, a federal judge even recommended sanctions after FCPS failed to follow the very Title IX settlement prompted by Kate’s experience. 

As a young adult, Kate made the difficult and courageous decision to pursue a civil rights lawsuit under Title IX and the United States Constitution against FCPS for its failure to protect her, and for retaliating against her when she came forward. Her goal was not just accountability, but to help protect other students from experiencing what she had endured. 

After years of litigation—including a successful previous appeal preserving her right to proceed under a pseudonym—Kate’s trial took place in 2024 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

For six weeks, jurors heard testimony about Kate’s experiences and the school’s response. Multiple witnesses, including experts, described the trauma she endured and the failures she reported. On the stand, the former assistant superintendent even admitted that the school district had not followed best practices.

But only fragments of the full story were ever allowed into evidence. Key expert testimony and corroborating witnesses were excluded. Jury instructions failed to convey the full legal standard under Title IX.

The result was not a fair hearing of the facts—it was a whitewashing of the truth. The system that failed Kate as a child constrained her ability to prove it as an adult. Title IX’s high legal standard, biased evidentiary rulings, and persistent victim-blaming did what they often do: they erased a survivor’s truth. 

 

 

Kate, now 26 and in law school, is appealing that verdict to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, where the Duke Law School Appellate Clinic represents her.

But while her appeal is pending, FCPS has made a chilling move: it is demanding that Kate pay $250,000 in court costs—even though she has no income, has serious health conditions related to her abuse, and has hundreds of thousands of dollars of medical and educational debt. No survivor should face financial punishment for seeking justice. 

The hearing is set for September 19, 2025, in the United States Courthouse in the Eastern District of Virginia in Alexandria, before Magistrate Judge Valaa. The hearing is open to the public. 

This demand comes from a school district with a $4 billion annual budget—one that has already paid more than $14 million in legal fees to the K Street law firm Hunton Andrews Kurth (formerly Hunton & Williams) to fight Kate, prompting scrutiny from the school district’s own auditor. Throughout this litigation, attorneys Sona Rewari, Ryan Bates, Kevin Elliker, and Michael Kinney have drawn criticism for aggressive and unethical tactics—including a request that Kate, a sexual assault survivor, undergo a pelvic exam.

National Women’s Law Center called their tactics, “cruel and abusive.” 

Let’s be clear: This isn’t about cost recovery. 

It’s about punishment. It’s a message to all survivors:

Don’t come forward. Don’t speak up. Don’t challenge the system.

This is exactly why so many students—and especially child survivors—stay silent.

But here’s the truth: FCPS doesn’t have to do this. FCPS chooses to do this.

Courts are not required to award costs. In civil rights cases, they typically don’t—especially when:

• The plaintiff brought their case in good faith.
• The claims raised serious constitutional or statutory questions.
• The survivor has no ability to pay.

Kate’s case meets all these criteria.

She survived multiple motions to dismiss.

She brought serious and well-established legal claims under Title IX and the US Constitution.

She presented expert medical evidence and over dozens of witnesses

She won her first appeal.

And she is appealing the verdict because of serious procedural errors in her trial and legal questions appellate courts have never addressed.

This was not a frivolous lawsuit. It was a fight for the truth, dignity and institutional accountability.

It was the courageous act of a young woman who chose justice as her response to trauma.

And now, she’s being punished for it.

This is not accountability. It is institutional retaliation.

What’s at stake is not only Kate’s future—but whether any student will ever feel safe coming forward again.

Fairfax County Public Schools claims to support trauma-informed care. It also claims to value equity, inclusion, and safety.

But words are cheap - values must be implemented not just stated.

Right now, the Fairfax County School Board faces a defining choice:

•  Double down on its self-preservation
  —or—
• Model decency, integrity, and leadership.

We call on the Board to:

• Immediately withdraw its motion for costs against B.R., the survivor known as “Kate.”
• Publicly commit never to seek costs from survivors in future Title IX cases which are brought in good faith.

This is not about ideology.

It’s about human decency—and doing the right thing.

No survivor should be punished for telling the truth. 

No school board should weaponize litigation to silence the very students it failed to protect.

Sign this petition. Share it widely. Show the Fairfax County School Board—and every institution watching—that we will not stay silent while survivors are punished for speaking out.

Let FCPS—and school systems everywhere—know:

Justice means standing with the people you failed—not punishing them for speaking up.

School boards should stand with survivors. So should Fairfax County Public Schools.

FCPS, DO THE RIGHT THING AND WITHDRAW THE MOTION!