West Ada School District employees are now required to report allegations of illegal discrimination or harassment, after parents pushed for mandatory reporting as a method for tracking instances of discrimination in schools. 

The reporting mandate is part of a suite of new non-discrimination rules that the West Ada school board adopted this month. While much of the policy additions simply affirm that the district complies with federal laws barring discrimination, the mandatory reporting requirement is a significant change. 

It directs employees to report allegations of illegal discrimination or harassment to their supervisor or to a district administrator; administrators and supervisors are then required to share the allegations with the district’s civil rights coordinator.

A group of parents, who worry that discrimination is a widespread issue in Idaho’s largest school district, pushed the district to enact mandatory reporting, with the hope that tracking the data will illustrate how pervasive discrimination is in West Ada.

“The district needs to be keeping track of this data…because it’s a district-wide problem,” Anna Marie Young, who says her children have faced racism at school, told Idaho Education News. “If this is happening to my kids then I know it’s happening to other kids.”

District adopts new policies after playground compliance complaint

In 2023, someone anonymously filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) exposing that playgrounds at West Ada’s Seven Oaks Elementary failed to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act standards. 

KTVB reported that the district tore down the equipment last year, and about seven months later, West Ada’s general counsel, Amy White, introduced a handful of non-discrimination policy updates to the school board.  

White told trustees in March that the district was “revisiting” all of its non-discrimination policies as it worked with federal regulators to address the Seven Oaks complaint.

OCR, which enforces federal civil rights laws in schools, offered guidance and proposed modifications to the policy updates during a “comprehensive” review over the last nine months, according to Niki Scheppers chief of staff for the district. The district also sought feedback from parents, students and teachers. 

“This feedback was considered in discussions and contributed to the development of the policies.”

West Ada trustees on Nov. 11 unanimously voted to approve four additions to the district’s policy manual. The additions include: 

• A new policy affirming that West Ada complies with federal non-discrimination laws and directing the superintendent to “create procedures which foster a working and learning environment that is free from unlawful discrimination, harassment, intimidation, abusive conduct or bullying”
• Definitions of federally protected classifications, including disability, race, color, national origin, age, sex and others
• A list of accommodations that are offered to individuals with disabilities
• A detailed guide for filing discrimination grievances, which includes the mandatory reporting directive for district employees

Existing policies required district-level reporting of discrimination or harassment in some cases. For instance, a Title IX policy makes all district personnel mandatory reporters of sex- and gender-based discrimination. But the new rule broadly mandates reporting for allegations of “illegal discrimination or harassment.”

Parents push for mandated reporting

Early versions of the policy updates, presented to the school board in March and September, did not include mandatory reporting requirements.

But in the weeks leading up to the school board’s November vote, a group of 22 people, identifying themselves as district parents, called on West Ada to address “numerous accounts of discriminatory acts in your schools” by tracking complaints at the district level, among other suggestions.

“It’s not enough to say that these things just happen and attempt to address them one at a time,” the Oct. 16 letter said.   

Scheppers told EdNews that “many” of the 22 people who signed the letter “could not be verified as current parents or guardians of students,” although some may be former district parents or community members. 

Young, a mother of four, signed the letter. She told EdNews that her children and their cousin, who are Black, have faced racial discrimination at West Ada schools. Classmates have repeatedly made fun of her children’s curly hair, she said, and a white student told their cousin to move to the back of a water fountain queue “because she was Black.”

Three other Black students, Eagle High School attendees, alleged this summer that they have faced racist harassment, including slurs and threats from classmates and teachers. The Idaho Statesman reported that the father of two of the students filed a tort claim against the district. 

Young questioned whether West Ada could systematically address these issues without mandatory reporting, and she resolved to advocate that “every single allegation” of discrimination be brought to the district’s central office. 

Zachary Borman, president of the West Ada Education Association, said he doesn’t believe that teachers are systematically engaging in discriminatory behavior, nor does he believe a teacher would intentionally look the other way if they witnessed discrimination from a student. 

But teachers need to understand the harm that discrimination can cause as well as “the need to report it,” he said. For the most part, individual schools deal with cases of discrimination as they come up, and “we might not necessarily recognize how big of an issue we have until we have the data in front of us.”

“That’s why that reporting mechanism, and educating folks about it, is going to be so important,” he said. 

Parents also challenged school leaders to ensure students and staff are aware of the new reporting requirements. Carolyn Bruce told trustees this month that discrimination can be handled “swiftly and correctly” with supportive and knowledgeable staff. Bruce recalled that a student once made a racist comment toward her son, and a teacher who was present quickly called it out and shut it down. 

“People do good things, people are aware of how to handle things and respond appropriately,” said Bruce, who also signed the letter. “But I don’t think enough people are aware and enough people are paying attention.”

Administrators acknowledge ‘valuable suggestions’

District leaders drafted a response to the parents’ letter in late October, according to email records obtained by EdNews. 

It’s unclear whether it was ultimately sent or who signed it. But Scheppers, White and West Ada superintendent Derek Bub edited the letter, which offered appreciation for “several valuable suggestions” and acknowledged “the importance of reporting requirements.”

“Discrimination of any kind goes against the values of our District and can significantly impact students’ well-being and academic success,” the letter said. “We are dedicated to making sure every student feels respected, valued and safe.”

It also noted that the district conducts “mandatory, annual training on these critical topics.” This year, for instance, all personnel had to attend training on Title IX, discrimination in the workplace and sexual misconduct awareness. 

Ultimately, advocates lauded the district for the new policies — even though some concessions were made. Borman said they represented “a good compromise.” 

He had advocated for explicit protections in the new policies for gender identity and sexual orientation classifications, which would shield LGBTQ+ students and employees from discrimination. These protections weren’t included in the updates, but they do exist elsewhere in the district’s policy manual. 

“It’s not my best-case scenario, but it’s better than nothing,” Borman told EdNews. 

The district’s discrimination and harassment reporting form defines sex-based discrimination as including “orientation or gender identity,” Scheppers noted. And an existing Title IX compliance policy “prohibits harassment and discrimination on the basis of sex, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity and pregnancy.”

Scheppers said these protections will remain regardless of federal Title IX regulations, which are in flux. The Biden administration this year rewrote the civil rights law to cover discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity, but the new rules have been tied up in the courts and blocked from implementation in dozens of states, including Idaho. 

West Ada’s website now has a tab that details the new and existing non-discrimination policies and regulations, with guidance for reporting discrimination. Click here to read it.