A complaint against Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. that alleges discrimination against Latino students whose first language is not English must be taken seriously. At the same time, it’s also too early to draw broad conclusions from what we know about the federal civil rights investigation that has been opened.
As The Republic’s Jana Wiersema reported Sunday, the US Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) confirmed that it is looking into allegations asserting, among other things, that BCSC has been “creating a pipeline of Latino ELL (English Language Learner) students to alternative education programs that are not designed to support the students’ success.”
These are serious allegations. Those filing the complaint will have an opportunity to make their case and present evidence, as will BCSC.
Claims of discrimination are always emotionally charged, and the process for investigating those claims is less than fully transparent for good reason. After all, claims of discrimination are civil in nature rather than criminal, yet they can be profoundly damaging if the claims turn out to be unsupported by evidence.
At this point, the school corporation gets the benefit of the doubt, and it also has at its disposal the means if not the imperative to remedy any apparent violations as soon as possible.
Superintendent Jim Roberts told Wiersema that BCSC is cooperating with the investigation and “remains committed to ensuring that everyone is afforded equal protection under the law.”
“We believe that we have worked appropriately to do the things that benefit our students,” Roberts said.
The complaint was heavily redacted but alleges violations that occurred over the course of years, as well as alleged retaliation. While there is much we don’t know, we can draw a few conclusions from what we do know.
First, the OCR found enough merit in the complaint that it cleared the agency’s initial hurdle of dismissal. The complaint provided at least enough initial evidence that OCR determined it needed to look into it.
Second, we know as this process plays out that OCR will investigate with a goal of determining whether the evidence it collects supports a conclusion that BCSC complied with the law or that it failed to comply. The office will then furnish its findings to the parties — and those findings will be made public. Negative findings could expose BCSC to enforcement actions.
We also know there is a third way: BCSC can settle this. As the OCR explains, “A complaint under investigation may be resolved at any time when, prior to the conclusion of the investigation, the recipient expresses an interest in resolving the complaint and OCR determines that it is appropriate to resolve it because OCR’s investigation has identified concerns that can be addressed through a resolution agreement.”
That happened in 2003 when BCSC faced a complaint that its English as a Second Language program was insufficient. The schools agreed to add two teaching positions and five teacher assistants to accommodate the needs of students who did not speak English as their primary language.
Twenty years later, another resolution of a similar issue may be in everyone’s best interests.
