Newberg board conducts state-mandated civil‑rights training after 2022 conciliation agreement

The Newberg School District board held a state‑required civil‑rights training on Aug. 12, 2025, led by a civil‑rights specialist from the Oregon Department of Education after the district entered a conciliation agreement in September 2024 related to a 2022 appeal alleging it had not reasonably accommodated a board member’s disability.

The training was part of a conciliation process that followed a complaint accepted by the Department of Education in September 2022. The department’s statement, posted in the district records and read at the meeting, said the board “did not reasonably accommodate a Board member’s disability, denying that person the right to fully participate in those meetings on the same basis as her peers.” The case reference cited by the board is 2022MM‑seventeen.

The training, presented by Marinda, a civil‑rights specialist with the Oregon Department of Education, covered federal and state disability nondiscrimination law, including Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the ADA Amendments Act (2008), and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act. “This is a training, not not legal advice,” Marinda told the board as she reviewed the scope of obligations for public entities and practical requirements such as notice of nondiscrimination, designation of ADA coordinators and…