In what some are calling a landmark settlement, the New York City school system has agreed to a series of changes to its student-directed sexual assault policies after four special-education students, including two who were allegedly raped inside or near their schools, sued the Department of Education demanding change.

The students' federal lawsuit focused on what they said in an 85-page complaint was the school system's "pervasive and systemic failure to take appropriate and legally mandated actions" generally, and in their own instances, after students across the city report sexual assaults. The systemic lack of proper action, according to the complaint, includes alleged failures to investigate or properly investigate claims, notify parents, provide interim safety measures, assist with "safety" student-transfers, or offer educational support or accommodations, under federal disability laws, for traumatized students.