Mountain View Excessive Faculty dealing with federal Civil Rights investigation | Schooling

The Alpine School District and Mountain View High School are facing a federal investigation into alleged discrimination against students on the school’s football team based on race, color, and / or nationality.

The complaints were filed with the U.S. Department of Education, Civil Rights Office on November 12, 2020. An investigation will follow.

A report by ABC 4 revealed the filing of the complaints, which treated white students differently from colored athletes, did not address a racially hostile environment, and retaliated against the complainants.

For allegations of treating white students differently than colored athletes, complaints include that they do not provide comparable coaching to colored athletes, do not give colored athletes the opportunity to compete for starting or role-playing games, do not give equal playing time and white Teaching Games to players first who do not learn the names of color athletes, do not allow color athletes to play multiple positions, and more.

If the racially hostile environment is not addressed, it will, among other things, not address racial harassment, protect white families and coaches, harass and attack colored coaches, and conduct a biased and incomplete investigation.

The retaliation allegedly included interfering with an involved athlete’s transfer requests, withholding an award promised to an athlete, banning games from volunteering, and criticizing complainants with staff and members of the community.

“The OCR has launched an investigation to respond to complaints from certain parents related to the Mountain View High School football team,” said a statement from the School District of the Alps. “The alpine school district is cooperating with the investigation, which is at an early stage. The alpine school district denies that the complaints are justified. The district has no further comments to make on the investigation.”

The allegations listed were raised with the Alpine School District and submitted to the Citizens’ Rights Office at least 60 days later. According to the files, the OCR will now function as a neutral fact finder that collects and analyzes relevant evidence.

Some of the allegations were also dismissed on file. The first concerned allegations that the school banned viewers from attending exercises, performances and events, but the action coincided with allowing high school activities to continue without fans during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Another listed retaliation where complainants are not allowed to speak to members of the Alpine School District Education Committee. This was done in order to keep the board impartial for the hearing granted by the board at the appellant’s request.

The final dismissal implies that the complaints will be deemed unfounded and will be viewed as retaliation. The district had to make a decision on the complaints, but allegations of bias and incorrect investigation are still being investigated by the OCR.

The investigation will follow and if a violation is found an attempted remedy will be negotiated. If one cannot be found, federal funds can be withdrawn from the alpine school district.