OCEC School Compliance Task Force

d files Uniform Complaint Forms against schools and districts on behalf of LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning) and other minority students as warranted. A Uniform Complaint Form is a written statement alleging discrimination, harassment, intimidation and/or bullying or a violation of a federal or state law or regulation. Additional information about Uniform Complaint Forms can be found on the California Department of Education’s website.

“We are the first group formed for the sole purpose of representing interests of students who have been marginalized or victimized at school in Orange County,” said School Compliance Task Force Co-Chair Karyl Ketchum. “School should be a safe place to learn where educators welcome diverse ideas and leadership. Our mission is simple and pure: Make sure schools follow the laws.”

In Capistrano Valley Unified School District, members of the school board (in public meetings) voiced refusal to update curriculum to be more inclusive, as required by the FAIR Education Act. The School Compliance Task Force filed a Uniform Complaint Form asking the district to follow the law and expressing concern that people of historical significance were being willfully excluded from social studies lessons. After an unsatisfactory response from the District, this complaint is currently pending appeal at the California Department of Education’s Equal Opportunity Office. The Newport-Mesa Unified School District was limiting students’ access to information about HIV/AIDS and PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) at a high school’s “Diversity Day,” the School Compliance Task Force filed a Uniform Complaint Form citing California Ed Codes that state that singling out only these two groups amounts to illegal discrimination and requested that the district make amends. So far, Newport-Mesa has denied any wrongdoing and has refused to cooperate. The School Compliance Task Force has lodged an appeal, asking the California Department of Education to require Newport-Mesa to ameliorate the effects of its acts against these student clubs and their student members. The FAIR (Fair, Accurate, Inclusive, Respectful) Education Act requires schools to integrate factual information about social movements, current events and the history of people of color, with disabilities and/or LGBTQ people into existing social studies lessons. The law also prevents schools from adopting instructional materials that discriminate. Accordingly, schools are required to update their textbooks and lesson plans to reflect a more inclusive approach to teaching. Seth’s Law (or AB 9) aims to fight bullying. Seth’s Law is named after a 13-year-old California student who tragically took his own life in 2010 after years of anti-gay bullying that his school failed to curtail. The law requires schools to adopt a strong anti-bullying policy and a formal process for receiving complaints, to intervene upon witnessing bullying and to publicize the anti-bullying policy and procedures for filing complaints. Moreover, the law allows any person with knowledge of bullying or discrimination against a student to file a complaint on behalf of that student. The School Compliance Task Force has begun doing just that. Whether a student is being threatened via Facebook posts, harassed via locker vandalism or excluded from school activities because of sexual orientation or gender identity, the task force is prepared to hold school administrators who allow these types of acts accountable.