Battle Ground School District board hears appeal after district rescinds harassment finding

The Battle Ground School District board of directors convened a closed appeal hearing after an appeal filed May 1 by paraeducator Tasha Borton, who urged the board to overturn the district's decision to rescind an earlier finding that staff member Christopher Margolin engaged in prohibited harassment.

Borton told the board that on March 17, at about 9:06 a.m. in Classroom P3 in the seventh-grade portables, Margolin hugged her tightly and "moved his face towards mine as though to go in for a kiss." She said she stepped away and left the room, and that the March 17 incident was the last in a series of interactions over several months that made her uncomfortable. "This was the final incident that led me to report the behavior I had experienced for months prior to this incident," Borton said. She said she reported the March 17 incident to her union representative and to Principal Eric Zaxog on March 18 and filed a formal complaint that triggered a Title IX process.

Why it matters: Borton framed the case as one about the district's legal obligation under federal Title IX and Washington law to prevent and promptly address…