Parent urges district to require independent reviews after harassment reports

A parent told the South Washington County Schools board Thursday that the district’s internal handling of a reported staff sexual-harassment incident has left families without confidence in the reporting process and urged formal changes to how complaints are reviewed.

“My name is Adam. I'm a parent of four students in the district,” the speaker said during the public-comment period and outlined six issues he said followed an initial student report, including that the staff member denied the allegation, prior student concerns were described as social awkwardness, and the case was treated as an isolated incident.

Adam said he requested an independent review rather than keeping the matter entirely internal, raised concerns about background-check gaps that rely on self-disclosure after hiring, and said the district’s process can prevent serious concerns from reaching higher oversight unless they are confirmed within the same internal system. He added that “the trust is not there” and that one of his children later reported another incident but chose not to tell school staff because she believed “nothing would be done.”

The parent asked the board to require mandatory escalation beyond the school level for repeated boundary or harassment complaints, establish independent external review for serious student-boundary or harassment complaints, create systems to identify patterns rather than treating incidents as isolated, and develop metrics to measure whether students trust the reporting process.

The remarks were delivered during the public-comment agenda item; board members did not respond during public comment. The district’s superintendent was referenced by the speaker as having told him that she oversees a large student population, which he described as a reason he did not get a clear plan for change. The speaker also said multiple other parents privately shared similar concerns after he raised the issue publicly.

The board’s agenda shows the superintendent later presented several items at the meeting, including policy updates that board materials say were revised to reflect Minnesota statutes. The transcript does not record an immediate formal response or proposed action arising from the public comment.