Carroll ISD provides update on Office of Civil Rights complaints at Sept. 23 meeting

Carroll ISD board President Cameron Bryan provided an update to district residents during the Sept. 23 board meeting on the status of four Office of Civil Rights complaints facing the district.

The details

As part of his president’s report, Bryan gave the following timeline of recent events related to the complaints:

• The district received a letter from OCR on May 6 that included a proposed resolution of action items with regard to the four complaints. The letter stated OCR had completed its investigation of the complaints and gave the district 90 days to sign the proposal
• On Aug. 5, at the end of the 90-day period, the district responded to OCR with a letter of impasse stating OCR had not provided the district with its findings and conclusions to substantiate the proposed resolution
• Carroll ISD has requested OCR’s findings and conclusions on four different occasions and OCR has refused to provide that evidence
• On Sept. 19, Carroll ISD officials met with OCR via Zoom and asked for OCR’s findings and were again denied that evidence

Bryan said the next step of the process includes OCR providing the district with a letter of impending enforcement action that includes OCR’s findings and conclusions with supporting evidence. When asked when the district can expect that letter, Bryan said the OCR’s supervisory attorney stated only they can declare an impasse and that they would continue the investigation, which OCR stated was concluded May 6.

“We will await to see what OCR does next and evaluate our response at that time,” Bryan said.

The backstory

According to previous Community Impact reporting, on May 6, the Office of Civil Rights told members of ​​Cultural & Racial Equity for Every Dragon, a group of parents of Black Southlake students, and the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition, a group of current and former CISD students, it had initiated negotiations with CISD after investigating four complaints filed by the groups in 2021.

The complaints chronicled instances where students were subject to racial slurs, homophobic comments and other verbal and physical harassment based on race, gender identity and sexual orientation without appropriate intervention from school officials and administrators, according to the letter.