The Justice Department announced today an agreement with Ellensburg School District in Washington State to resolve the department’s investigation into allegations that students were harassed and discriminated against based on sex, race, color and national origin.
The investigation, conducted jointly by the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Washington, found that Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ students in the district had endured widespread harassment, including taunts, intimidation, humiliation, epithets, slurs and death threats. Some students also were physically assaulted by other students at school. The school district’s failure to adequately respond despite its knowledge of this harassment left students vulnerable, leading some to miss class, drop school activities, avoid areas of campus and even transfer or leave school altogether.
“All students, whether Black, Latino or LGBTQ+, have a right to attend school free from fear and harassment,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “A school should be a place where students feel safe and supported. The department stands by these students and will ensure that schools respond quickly and effectively to protect students if they face harassment.”
“Protecting the civil rights of all students is critical to ensuring a safe learning environment,” said U.S. Attorney Vanessa Waldref for the Eastern District of Washington. “The U.S. Attorney’s Office commends the Ellensburg School District for its full cooperation throughout the investigation and its commitment to improving the educational environment for students through reforming its response to reports of harassment. This agreement will give the district tools to prevent and address harassment and create a healthier and supportive environment for student learning and development.”
The department opened the investigation in August 2023 under Titles IV and VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972. The department reviewed records from the 2021-22 through 2023-24 school years and interviewed over 100 people, including current and former students, employees and parents. The district fully cooperated during the investigation.
The department’s investigation found that the district failed to take effective action despite being aware of an environment in which Black, Latino and LGBTQ+ students experienced slurs, taunts and physical assaults based on race, national origin and sex. Black students faced frequent use of the N-word and other racial slurs by their classmates; Latino students were openly subjected to epithets like “beaner,” “wetback” and “mixed-breed”; and LGBTQ+ students endured widespread, ongoing and severe sex-based harassment by their peers, including gendered slurs, public graffiti and intimidation. The district’s insufficient response allowed the harassment to continue and even escalate, denying students equal access to the district’s educational programs.
Under the settlement agreement, Ellensburg School District will implement critical reforms including:
- Retaining a third-party consultant to support the school district in implementing the agreement and creating a discrimination-free educational environment for all students;
- Designating a district coordinator to oversee the effective resolution of reports of harassment;
- Designating a Spanish-speaking liaison to Latino families to ensure that the school district hears and responds to their complaints;
- Creating a new electronic reporting system to track and manage all reports of harassment and the district’s responses to such reports;
- Updating policies and procedures to ensure the district responds promptly and effectively to all reports of harassment and provides appropriate support services to affected students;
- Training all staff and students on how to identify and report harassment; and
- Implementing an annual climate assessment through surveys and listening sessions with students, parents, and school employees so that the district can identify and respond to harassment trends and concerns in the school community.
Enforcing civil rights laws to protect students from harassment is a top priority of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. Additional information about the Civil Rights Division is available at www.justice.gov/crt and additional information about the work of the Educational Opportunities Section is available at www.justice.gov/crt/
Members of the public may report possible civil rights violations at www.civilrights.justice.
View the agreement in Spanish here.
View the summary of the agreement here.
View the summary of the agreement in Spanish here.
U.S. Attorney Waldref released a video statement that can be found here.Â
