Yuma Elementary board pledges easier access to complaint forms after parents report delayed responses
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Summary
Following parent complaints about difficulty finding grievance forms and a lack of timely responses, the Yuma Elementary District board agreed to list commonly used complaint exhibits in the student handbook, train campus staff to print forms on request and add a December agenda item to finalize which forms should be available in paper at school sites.
The Yuma Elementary District governing board agreed to make district complaint and grievance forms easier to find and obtain after parents at the meeting said they had trouble locating forms on the ASBA policy site and that the district had not responded to formal complaints within the district's stated time frames.
During the board's discussion, Superintendent Ponder walked members through where Title IX and other complaint forms currently live on the district website and on the ASBA (Arizona School Boards Association) policy portal. He recommended linking to ASBA to ensure the district always references the most current legal exhibits rather than duplicating documents that can become out of date.
Several board members said parents — especially those less comfortable with online navigation — need paper copies. One board member asked if complaint forms could be included in enrollment or welcome packets and requested that principals and front-office staff be able to provide a printed copy immediately when a parent asks. Ponder said principals have access to the forms and can print them and that the district can provide common forms in paper on request.
Public commenters pressed the board for faster responses. Bero Corona Zapata told the board a formal discrimination equal-opportunity complaint filed Sept. 22 had gone unanswered for 58 days, exceeding the 30-day timeline in policy IA C-R: "This is a district violation... the lack of communication and action in our case honestly has been appalling," Zapata said. Irma Felix said she had submitted multiple emails with no response and requested the district provide a third-party investigator if families ask for one.
In response, the board asked Mr. Ponder to compile the correspondence and promised to review it; Mr. Ponder said he would provide responses and the board asked for the documentation by Thanksgiving if possible. District staff also committed to inserting the actual complaint exhibits (the forms) into the district discipline handbook that families receive and to updating the website; campus secretaries will be trained so paper copies can be produced on request.
The board directed staff to draft a list of the most commonly requested complaint forms and to bring that list — along with a training plan for campus contacts — back as an action item at the December board meeting. The board chair summarized the path forward: identify a short set of commonly used forms, train a point person at each campus to find and print them, and place the matter on the December agenda for board review and final decision.
What happens next: District staff will add complaint exhibits to the student handbook and update the site or handbook links; the board will consider the proposed list and training plan in December and expects campus secretaries to be able to provide paper copies on request in the interim.