Park City student asks board candidates how they would protect reporters from harassment

A student raised her own concerns as candidates vying for positions on school boards in three Summit County districts attended a forum Monday night to answer questions from KPCW, The Park Record and community members about their plans.

When the Park City School District candidates took their seats to ask questions, there was a lot of agreement – ​​as a group they are largely in favor of greater transparency, while recognizing legal limitations, they believe in studying the district’s budget before making commit to expensive projects and they want to do so. promote strong, accountable leadership and greater accountability within district governance.

All of the incumbents who originally entered the race withdrew their bids, and — after a rough few years for the district — the candidates were eager for change and improvement. Local pediatrician Eileen Gallagher is uncontested for the district’s seat 2, as is former professional health care administrator Susan Goldberg for seat 1.

Competing for the No. 3 spot are former National Ability Center CEO Danny Glasser and Kathleen Britton, who led child nutrition programs in Utah for a decade and in Park City Schools for 21 years before that.

Towards the end of the evening, 15-year-old Laila van Hartesvelt, a student at Treasure Mountain Junior High School, approached the microphone.

Her father later said she was a little concerned about asking a question, but he assured her that the candidates would be happy to hear from her, and he was right.

“What steps are you willing to take to help children feel safer reporting these issues and not fearing what may come from other students in the future,” she asked.

The investigation came after an earlier conversation about the Park City School District investigation conducted earlier year by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. It found more than 180 incidents of student-to-student harassment during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 school years, not all of which had been addressed by the district according to federal standards.

Candidates had stated several things they thought would help the problem: promoting better leadership, adopting clear anti-bullying policies, increasing transparency, ensuring community participation and obligations and, as Glasser said, ensuring that both the bullied if the bullying students get the support they need. .

But when Van Hartesvelt asked her question, they became more specific, reaching beyond just policy adjustments and refinement, though they were sure to include these as necessary steps.

“You have to have a policy, a very clear policy, for civil rights, and that has to be shared with our students,” Britton said.

She added that they need a “safe person,” or someone they know they can go to with their concerns.

That safe person, she said, could be introduced to students at the beginning of each year, along with the issues students should come to them with.

‘You can go talk to them. You can file a complaint. No one will find out if you don’t want others to know,” she said.

She said it needed to be dealt with immediately and parents informed.

“It’s important for students to see that the leaders in their communities really feel comfortable talking about these things,” says Gallagher. “I tell my patients all the time, ‘You can’t shock me. I will talk to you if you are suicidal. I’m going to talk to you if you’re being bullied. Let me talk to you about being harassed at school.’”

Adults have had to deal with those things, she said, and they want to make them better for kids.

“If your goal is to share information and maintain anonymity, we need to ensure that, through our policy that you have an element of anonymity,” Glasser said.

He added that precautions must be taken to ensure that children can falsely report each other without accountability, but said this means a process of verifying and confirming.

“The most important thing is to make sure that we create an environment where it is safe to come forward and talk to board members or to the administration about what is being experienced,” he said.

Goldberg said she wasn’t sure whether the policy should be structured around safe people for students to approach or in some other way, but she emphasized that it is important to make sure students feel comfortable coming forward and are protected from retaliation.

“Policy is really what will keep us strong,” she said. “We need to communicate the elements of the policy clearly to everyone.”

There are federal policies that the Office for Civil Rights has worked with the Park City School District for compliance purposes, she added.

“I think it’s pretty obvious,” she said.

Shortly after the Office for Civil Rights investigation and its findings became public, the district pointed out its small size as not having proper processes in place to receive and handle harassment reports.

They called for an easily accessible form to report harassment, available on the district’s website, for children and families who might not otherwise know where to go.

Still, Van Hartesvelt says she thinks fear of retaliation is still a roadblock that keeps children who have experienced harassment from reporting it.

“They say, ‘Oh, most bullies come with a lot of other people, and that can spread,’” she said. “People could become even more overwhelmed by bullying.”

She appreciated the board candidates’ responses to ensuring children have someone they know they feel comfortable talking to, but she was concerned about children not having a connection with their teachers.

Among other things, she would appreciate if there was a way to report harassment and make sure the issue would remain safe, “so people don’t hear about it.”