Policy 5011 includes notice and training as well as a review of the processes we have in place.
We train our district employees, parents/guardians, and volunteers both in what sexual harassment or discrimination is and the complaint process for each one. Our student handbooks and our employee handbooks outline this information. We train all of our employees upon hire through Safe Schools, an online training program, through the course What Every Employee Must Be Told and focused training modules that are on a three-year rotation. Employees are also emailed information annually that identifies what sexual harassment and discrimination is and who to contact to make a complaint about either of these. Information about sexual harassment is posted in each of our school’s front offices as well in both English and Spanish.
In the 2018-2019 school year, I investigated three official complaints having to do with either Title IX or Discrimination. In October 2018 I investigated a report of a sexual comment made by a high school student on a bus to other students on a trip home from an athletic event. In the investigation, I found that there was a sexual comment made by the student that, though inappropriate, did not meet the defined standard of sexual harassment. I made recommendations to improve the supervision on the bus and supervision when students were off the bus getting food; including spreading coaches out in the bus, monitoring conversations and music more closely and coaches staying with students when at meals. I shared my findings and recommendations with John Shoup and Paul Huddleston.
In March of 2019, I investigated an allegation that an employee had made a racially charged statement. The employee who made the allegation did not want to make an official complaint. Due to the nature of the alleged statement, I made the decision to investigate. In the investigation, I found no evidence that the employee had used racial slurs. During the interview, I became concerned that the employee assigned negative stereotypes to a racial group. The employee was counseled to be self-reflective in conversations at school and reviewed the expectations of the district and the potential consequences of discrimination.
In April of 2019, The parents of an elementary-aged submitted a complaint that Woodland School District and KWRL discriminated against their family based on race. The complaint also said their daughter was sexually harassed by two male students on the bus. An outside investigator was brought in to investigate the discrimination complaint. He did not find any racially-based motivation for any of the actions complained of by any KWRL or District staff. I did the sexual harassment investigation alongside the outside investigator and I did not find that the incident met the defined standard of sexual harassment. In the one-time incident I was unable to determine that the preponderance of evidence supported any verbal exchanges between the students. The accused students were counseled by the principal at the school and other arrangements were made for their transportation to school. The district also tried to work with the family to alleviate any concerns the student had about riding the bus. This incident also prompted KWRL and the District to reflect and improve on the procedures in place for communicating between KWRL and administrators when issues happen on the buses, especially of a sexual nature.