Parent expresses concern with how school district handled complaint

MATTAWA — A concerned parent addressed the Wahluke School Board during a regular meeting on Tuesday, Dec. 10.

The parent, who did not state her name or her children’s names, said that she had written a parent complaint about a year ago and that the school district had never responded to her. While she was not specific about the content of the complaint, she did say it dealt with racial discrimination. She also made a second complaint about a staff member at one of her children’s schools.

According to the parent, both complaints ended up on the desk of Liz Leitz, human resources and communication director for the Wahluke School District. The parent came to the board because she had yet to receive a response to her complaints.

Board members Craig Sabin and Lorraine Jenne both said they had heard that the complaint had been resolved.

“I thought it was closed, until I heard you were raising concern,” said Bob Eckert, superintendent for the Wahluke School District. “I recontacted OSPI. I wasn’t.”

According to Eckert, Leitz sent OSPI, the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State of Washington, a 86-page report shortly after the complaint was made. Apparently, the documentation was lost. As of Tuesday, Dec. 10, Leitz had resent all of the documentation.

The board appointed Eckert to investigate the entire situation and to find out why the parent hadn’t been informed of the findings in a timely manner.

The parent said that while she didn’t want to make her complaint public knowledge, it was her only way of getting an answer.

“Obviously things didn’t go well,” Jenne said. “I had checked on this and thought it was taken care of.”

Rachal Pinkerton may be reached via email at rpinkerton@suntribunenews.com.