BOULDER COUNTY, Colo. — The Boulder Valley School District (BVSD) announced Wednesday that it has reached a settlement with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the family represented by the anti-hate advocacy organization over a civil rights complaint filed in June.
As part of the settlement agreement, BVSD said the family and ADL are withdrawing their complaint filed with the Office for Civil Rights.
The settlement comes just months after the ADL initially filed the complaint, alleging that the district failed to intervene on behalf of an eighth-grade Jewish student who endured repeated antisemitic bullying at Southern Hills Middle School.
As part of the settlement agreement, BVSD said it will incorporate several provisions designed to “drive systemic change to prevent antisemitism and harassment in the District, in alignment to the six-part plan Dr. Anderson shared with the BVSD community on August 1.”
Those provisions include:
- Centralized resources for staff, students, and families on the BVSD website.
- Implemented training for all staff and administrators on recognizing and combating antisemitism, while providing age-appropriate educational programming for students on discrimination and harassment.
- A Superintendent Advisory Group Addressing Antisemitism that includes community representatives to ensure the district’s efforts are responsive and effective, which will be established by Superintendent Dr. Rob Anderson.
- Enhanced annual community reporting and internal audits of incident handling, providing the community with clarity on incidents of student misconduct involving discrimination, harassment, and bullying, and the district's actions.
BVSD added that it remains dedicated to “fostering safe, welcoming learning environments for all students,” and that it “will continue investing in training and educational programming, investigating allegations of misconduct, and taking prompt, effective action to address and prevent discrimination, bullying, and harassment.”
In a release, the Regional Director for the ADL Mountain States Region said that “The measures BVSD has agreed to will make its schools safer for every student, including Jewish students," and added that the "agreement creates an important foundation for rebuilding trust."
