US Department of Education is investigating Oklahoma school district after the death of nonbinary teen Nex Benedict

By Virginia Langmaid and Dalia Faheid, CNN

(CNN) — Following the death of tenth grader Nex Benedict, the US Department of Education said Friday it is opening an investigation into whether an Oklahoma school district “failed to appropriately respond to alleged harassment,” according to a letter from the department.

Nex, who family and friends say identified as nonbinary, died on February 8, a day after they told their family they were involved in a fight with other students at Owasso High School.

It is not clear if or how the fight contributed to Nex’s death. Their cause of death has yet to be determined, but an early autopsy finding showed they did not die as a result of trauma, according to police.

On February 21, an LGBTQ+ advocacy group, Human Rights Campaign, filed a complaint requesting that federal education officials investigate “the circumstances leading to the death of Nex Benedict,” and alleged a “failure of Owasso High School to address documented instances of bullying, violence, and harassment.”

In a letter to the Human Rights Campaign, the Department of Education said it will be investigating whether Owasso Public Schools complied with Title IX sex-based discrimination protections and Title II disability discrimination protections when investigating allegations of harassment within its schools.

Owasso Public Schools officials said they received notice Friday about the investigation.

“The district is committed to cooperating with federal officials and believes the complaint submitted by HRC is not supported by the facts and is without merit,” said Owasso Public Schools spokesperson Brock Crawford in a statement on Friday.

Chair of the Congressional Equality Caucus Rep. Mark Pocan said in a statement Friday that the investigation is “an important step toward ensuring that all students in Owasso Public Schools can learn free from discrimination or harassment.”

Nex’s death drew national attention, with multiple vigils taking place for the teen throughout the US, as advocates pointed to a heightened and hostile climate against the LGBTQ+ community.

Body camera video from February 7 released by the Owasso Police Department shows a police officer speaking with the teenager and their guardian in a hospital after a fight in the school bathroom between two groups of students.

Nex says the day of the fight, they went to the bathroom “and I was talking with my friends, they were talking with their friends and we were laughing. And they had said something like, ‘Why do they laugh like that?’ And they were talking about us in front of us.”

In response to those comments, Nex tells the officer they poured water from their water bottle on the students and that’s when things escalated. They came at Nex and grabbed at their hair, Nex says. Nex was then able to grab one of the girls and threw her into a paper towel dispenser, they say. Nex eventually got thrown onto the ground and the other students proceeded to beat them up, Nex says in the video.

The physical altercation was broken up by students and a faculty member, police have said. All students walked to the assistant principal’s office and the nurse’s office, police said, adding the investigation is ongoing.

The school district later said in a statement that, “Due to federal privacy laws, we are unable to disclose the exact nature of disciplinary action taken against any student.”

A GoFundMe has been established on behalf of Nex and their family.

The Benedict family said in a statement last week that the early details about the incident are “troubling at best.”

“We urge those tasked with investigating and prosecuting all potentially liable parties to do so fully, fairly and expediently,” the family said. “The Benedicts know all too well the devastating effects of bullying and school violence, and pray for meaningful change wherein bullying is taken seriously and no family has to deal with another preventable tragedy.”

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CNN’s Sara Smart and Steve Almasy contributed to this report.