Estimated read time: 5-6 minutes
FARMINGTON — When details emerged of a U.S. Department of Justice probe into charges of racial harassment and discrimination at Davis School District in the fall of 2021, some found the information hard to believe.
At first, "This community saw that report and said, 'That doesn't seem like it's us; that doesn't feel fair,'" said Dan Linford, the district superintendent. The department uncovered instances of "severe, pervasive and objectively offensive race-based harassment" in schools and said the district didn't adequately respond to them.
The news prompted headlines across Utah, and district officials launched efforts to comply with an Oct. 21, 2021, agreement with the Department of Justice to address the problems, even as the district faced blistering criticism. Davis School District, the second-largest school system in the state, encompasses all of Davis County and has more than 70,000 students.
"Rather than focusing on, I think, 'Why us?' We're saying, 'Hey, let's take this as an opportunity to really continue to grow, to continue to get better,'" said Fidel Montero, an assistant district superintendent tasked with overseeing the response.
Nearly three later, efforts continue to comply with the settlement agreement with the Department of Justice as federal officials monitor things. Linford and Montero said in an interview with KSL.com that the multifaceted initiative is yielding results, though they're not yet done.
"We're making progress in each of these areas that we're measuring, absolutely," said Montero. "We still have a long way to go — don't get me wrong — and we still have progress to make."
In fact, the efforts are likely to continue even after the Department of Justice deems the district has complied with the settlement agreement, which is anticipated in 2025. "This work is ongoing, so whether or not our settlement's complete in 2025, the work that we're doing, the things that we've described, by and large, won't change," said Linford.
News of the Department of Justice probe of Davis School District, divulged with the release of the settlement agreement on Oct. 21, 2021, came as a surprise to some. Others who had earlier lodged complaints with the district on race problems involving their kids — which figured in the launch of the probe — weren't shocked. The probe found that African American and Asian American students, in particular, faced harassment and discrimination.
"These incidents took place on a daily or weekly basis. Some students, now in middle and high school, said they had experienced racial harassment each year since they were kindergarteners," reads a Sept. 15, 2021, notice from the Department of Justice on its probe of the district. What's more, the department determined the district "was deliberately indifferent" to race problems in some schools and that Black students at times received harsher discipline than their white counterparts for similar offenses.
Among the key changes since the implementation of the settlement agreement have been increased training of staff on race issues and educational outreach efforts to students. Significantly, the district has launched the Office of Equal Opportunity to foster a sense of belonging among all students and created an online system to report incidents: the Harassment and Discrimination Reporting System. Multicultural councils made up of students have been formed in junior high and high schools.
Of the varied efforts, Linford singles out increased training of district staff on race and harassment issues as perhaps the most important change. He also emphasizes that the overarching aim of the efforts extends to all students. "We want students to learn at high levels, and we know that if students don't feel connected to school, that's our biggest challenge, regardless of their background," Linford said.
The settlement agreement zeroed in on the treatment of Black and Asian students, noted Bernard Gassaway of KND Consulting Group, an adviser to the district. But the district's approach is "that all students should be included under that umbrella, if you will, of being supported," he said.
'A team effort'
During the 2023-2024 school year, 2,461 incidents were reported via the discrimination reporting system, with 2,043 of them amounting to violations of the district's nondiscrimination policy and 570 deemed to be harassment. "A point worth noting is that most students who violated the policy appear to correct their behavior and were not repeat offenders, which we attribute to our intervening measures," reads a report issued in July on district efforts last year on race and harassment issues.
Indeed, the report notes advances, as well as some persisting issues.
"From students' reports, there is a marked reduction in teachers' bystander behavior and more allyship and support. However, the racial slurs from peers continue, but these are now largely in unsupervised spaces such as hallways, school buses and bathrooms," the report reads. Assemblies, the multicultural councils and the district's "zero-tolerance approach" to bullying and harassment are "noticed by students as new, and these initiatives are showing progress. These interventions are credited by students as reducing the volume of racial slurs."
Aided by consultants, the district has forged its own path. It's easy to find resources to help, say, improve students' reading or math scores, "but when it comes to addressing racial harassment in particular, there's just not a blueprint for this," Montero said.
As the initiative continues, though, officials across the district are on board with the efforts. "There's just a team effort in making our schools and our community just a little bit better," he said
