FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

SALT LAKE CITY BRANCH OF THE NAACP CALLS FOR AN AUDIT OF THE SALT LAKE CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT

(Salt Lake City, Utah) – On Tuesday, October 18, 2016, at 5:00 p.m. at the Salt Lake City School District Offices located at 440 E. 100 S. in Salt Lake City, Utah. Ms. Jeanetta Williams, of the NAACP will join other Community Leaders in calling upon state Auditor John Dougall to conduct a performance and financial audit on the Salt Lake City School District.

“Over the past two years, the community has repeatedly called upon Board President, Heather Bennett, and Vice President Tiffany Sandberg to honor and respect the authority invested in the Salt Lake City Board of Education by not interfering with that public body’s responsibility to deliberate and take action publicly and openly.” Stated Ms. Jeanetta Williams. “The Board leadership continues to ignore the pleas of the community and in frustration; we now turn to the State Auditors Office.”

“The violations set forth in the report to State Auditor John Dougall will outline a pervasive pattern and practice wherein the Board leadership has abdicated the Board’s authority by NOT allowing the Board to deliberate and take action openly and transparently on matters of finances, employment, contracts, and state grants.” stated Utah Coalition of La Raza (UCLR) founder Archie Archuleta. * “Ms. Bennett (Board President) and Ms. Sandberg (Board Vice President) would have the District run as an autocracy where the school administration is permitted to maneuver in secrecy, operate by abuses of power, cronyism, nepotism and discrimination. We ask that Auditor John Dougall help our School Board reclaim its dignity and assume its rightful place as guardians of our children’s education.

“The call for this audit should in no way diminish the great work of our teachers and local school administrators who should be proud of what they are able to accomplish despite the failed leadership at the top. This request to Auditor John Dougall is about failed Board leadership which includes the top administrators in the District office.” Stated GOP Chair James Evans. *

“The community and leaders of the west side of Salt Lake City have been raising concerns of questionable practices and lack of transparency at the Salt Lake School District offices, for the last couple of years. The concerns of the community have been ignored; a need for an audit is timely and can provide specific recommendations.”  Stated State Senator Luz Escamilla. “Transparency and openness are critical in the efficiency and effectiveness of our Government.”

* Mr. Archuleta and Mr. Evans also sit on the Salt Lake City School District Equity Leadership Team

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Founded in 1909, the NAACP is the nation’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. 

NAACP TUESDAY PRESS RELEASE FINAL

Supplemental Information

Michael Clara talks with judge Andrew Valdez before being sworn in as a new member of the Salt Lake City School Board at their offices in Salt Lake City Tuesday, January 8, 2013. Clara, who is also a member of the Racially Just Utah coalition, filed a complaint against the Salt Lake School District to federal education managers in June. Brian Nicholson, Deseret News

SALT LAKE CITY — Federal education authorities are looking into allegations of racial discrimination and unfair treatment against minority students in the Salt Lake School District.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights will investigate the district in response to a complaint of disproportionate discipline for black, Latino, Polynesian and Native American students in the district, among other issues, according to a Wednesday announcement by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Many of the issues in the complaint are based onresearch by the University of Utah, which reveals a similar problem statewide of a “school-to-prison pipeline” for minority students.

American Indian students, for example, are disciplined six times more than expected based on their proportion of Utah’s student body, according to the university report published last year. Black students are disciplined more than three times as often than expected, and Hispanic students are disciplined 1 ½ times more than expected, the report states.

Students with disabilities are twice as likely to be suspended multiple times as students without disabilities, according to the report.

Civil liberties advocates say this plays out in academic performance. In 2013, 86 percent of white students in Utah graduated from high school, compared to 70 percent of Latino and black students, and 80 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander students, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.

“The numbers don’t lie,” said Leah Farrell, a staff attorney with ACLU. “We do discipline kids of color at a higher rate in Utah. Looking at some of the causes of that, looking at ways that can be addressed where that shouldn’t be happening, I think, is really important.”

The complaint also claims that having student resource police officers at Northwest and Glendale middle schools are the result of the racial composition of the student body, leading to disproportionate contact with law enforcement for minorities.

Salt Lake City School Board member Michael Clara, who is also a member of the Racially Just Utah coalition, filed the complaint to federal education managers in June.

It’s unclear when the investigation will happen or how long it will take, but Office of Civil Rights officials say the investigation will be “prompt.”

District leaders say they “invite any technical help” in providing a quality education for students, and that they are studying discipline data from the district and the state, as well as meeting with community organizations.

“The Salt Lake City School District welcomes any objective review of our programs and practices,” district spokesman Jason Olsen said in a prepared statement. “Appropriate student discipline is a national issue, which is being reviewed and approached on several fronts.

“We look forward to the Office of Civil Rights review and hopefully learning additional ways to help address any possible inequities for the young people we serve,” he said.

While the investigation is limited solely to the district, Farrell said she hopes it will shed light on similar problems elsewhere, including Utah’s rural districts.

“It’s not uniquely a Salt Lake City problem,” she said. “I think this is a great place to start looking into Salt Lake’s practices, but absolutely the conversation and the lens needs to be focused on many places throughout Utah.”

Contributing: Mary Richards

Complaint » Allegations include unfair treatment of minority students.

Federal education managers are investigating Salt Lake City schools over allegations of discrimination, retaliation and unfair treatment of minority students.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Utah released a letter Wednesday from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, confirming the investigation into the Salt Lake City School District.

The probe comes at the request of school board member Michael Clara, who filed a complaint in June with the civil rights office.

Included in his complaint were allegations that students of color are targeted for disciplinary action and that school-based police officers are disproportionately assigned to areas with high racial diversity.

Clara said he became concerned when parents complained to him that full-time resource officers were stationed at Glendale and Northwest middle schools on the west side, but not at schools in the district’s more-affluent neighborhoods.

“Out of the five junior highs,” he said, “you just have them at two, and they happen to be the ones with 80 percent racial and ethnic minority [students].”

Salt Lake City School District spokesman Jason Olsen said district administrators are working to ensure equity and welcome federal investigators’ objective review of their programs.

“We are focused on providing the best education we can to the children of Salt Lake City,” he said, “and invite any technical help in moving us toward this goal.”

Clara, who represents Salt Lake City’s more diverse west-side neighborhoods, has filed complaints in the past, some of which were dismissed by the Office for Civil Rights while others resulted in investigations.

Last spring, he accused his school board colleagues of retaliating against him by assigning an officer to intimidate him at board meetings. He responded to the perceived intimidation by dressing in a “bandito” costume at board meetings until the officer was removed.

Clara said the board’s response was indicative of how students are treated in the school district, with officers called in to resolve issues only when a person of color is involved. The disparate treatment, he said, places students on a path of interaction with police that influences them into adulthood.

“In the kid’s case,” he said, “just regular teenage misbehavior has been criminalized by the fact that a police officer will respond to their breaking of school rules.”

Nubia Pena, coordinator of the advocacy coalition Racially Just Utah, praised Clara for prompting a examination of the district’s practices.

She said research, including recent reports from the University of Utah, point to a so-called “school-to-prison pipeline,” in which inconsistent disciplinary actions result in students of color being arrested, expelled or referred to alternative- education programs in greater numbers than their white peers.

“It’s an epidemic that is impacting our most vulnerable youth,” she said.

The federal investigation was an opportunity to build a partnership with the school district and improve efforts already underway to address inequities, Pena said. “We hope that people are eager to come to the table as much as we are.”

Olsen said district managers are reviewing student discipline data with community organizations.

In addition to the investigation by the Office for Civil Rights, Clara said, he intends to push for clearer policies regarding the assignment of school-based police officers and the role they play in enforcement.

“What I’d like to see is standards developed, either at the district or the state level,” he said, “and to give the officers training.”

Federal reviews that find evidence of discrimination in schools traditionally result in mandated negotiations.

If remedies cannot be reached, schools districts face the potential of having federal funding withheld.

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Parents and one member of the Salt Lake City School District are crying foul over a proposal to install a cellphone antenna on the roof of Glendale Middle School.

Board member Michael Clara said he’s worried the proposal has advanced too far without a public hearing or approval by the district school board, the school’s community council and the Glendale Community Council.

If built, the 8­foot­tall rooftop antenna would be the 14th cellular tower on school property in the Salt Lake City School District. The antennas generate thousands of dollars in revenue for Utah schools, but some worry that the radiation emitted by cellular technology poses a health risk for children.

On Monday, members of the advocacy group WirelessPollution.org said they plan to take legal action against seven Wasatch Front school districts if school leaders fail to provide scientific proof that cellphone towers are harmless. “They’re just putting these towers right on top of students,” said WirelessPollution.org senior associate David Green. “The burden of proof should be on them. They’re the ones endangering children.” Salt Lake City School District receives more than $180,000 each year from lease agreements with cellular service providers, according to district spokesman Jason Olsen. That revenue translates into roughly $4,000 per year for each school in the district, as well as an additional $3,000 for the schools where cell towers are located

Glendale Middle School Principal Chris Gesteland said he was still researching the details of Verizon Wireless’ proposal. But he added that the potential for new revenue would not outweigh a threat to students. “Any time revenue comes in, it’s appealing,” Gesteland said. “But you certainly wouldn’t want to take revenue over kids’ safety.”

Craig Dietrich, an environmental toxicologist with the Utah Department of Health, said the consensus of the scientific community is that cell towers operate at too low a power level to produce health hazards. He said there are dangers associated with the type of radiation used in cellular technology. But those negative effects are more likely to be the result of continual cellphone use throughout the day. “It’s your own cellphones and the way people are using them now,” Dietrich said. “The amount of energy that you’ll receive from your mobile phone can be up to 1,000 times higher than what you would get being exposed to a base station.”

In 2008, the Utah Department of Health conducted a study and found no relationship between cases of cancer and cell towers. And Dietrich said he has not seen any scientific literature connecting the antennas to disorders such as autism or ADHD. He said the concerns surrounding cellular technology are likely rooted in a general distrust of radiation. And he suggested that some of the objections to antenna towers could be based on aesthetics and not health. “It’s not the most appealing thing to look out and see cellphone towers,” Dietrich said. But Green challenged the idea that the scientific community has reached a consensus. He referred to a recent study in Europe, but acknowledged that the study was focused on cellphone use and not cellular towers. “There’s still lots of questions that are unanswered,” he said. “There’s enough research now that really questions their safety.”

Most of the school districts identified by WirelessPollution.org were not aware of any potential lawsuits from the organization. Granite School District spokesman Ben Horsley did not have exact figures, but said the district hosted several cellphone towers that bring in more than $100,000 total each year. “It’s a good source of revenue for a school,” he said. In Jordan School District, a property lease for a tower is roughly $18,000 per year, spokeswoman Sandra Riesgraf said, with all of those funds remaining at the leasingschool. “In our district, we never put one on a school property without taking it to a school.

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