About The Agencies

The Department of Education,
The Department of Justice, and
The Office of Civil Rights

All three agencies have departments that will investigate grievances, and all can do it in different ways.  By launching a massive attack on the system and utilizing all departments at once, the schools can be investigated in so many ways, it will be turned on its ear.

We also advocate releasing information about the investigations to as many media sources as possible.  The attitude of the school and community will indeed become very volatile, but they will also recognize that they must change when they come under scrutiny by so many sources.

The next method of empowerment comes from what you as a parent have the right to demand from your school. Many various ways will be discussed at length in the section Writing Resolutions For Changes in Your School.

The Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights

At the end of this guide you will find the information for filing complaints with the OCR.  However, these guidelines skim the surface and if one is creative there are many ways to look at a given situation and turn what seems to be a lost cause into a complaint that has merit.

"OCR's authority to resolve complaints extends to allegations of discrimination based on race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability in public and private programs that receive Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education. These include most schools and colleges and some other entities such as vocational rehabilitation agencies and libraries. OCR also has authority to resolve complaints of disability discrimination by public education entities, and complaints filed under the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act."

It is very important when filing your complaint with OCR that it is clear how the situation is discriminatory, rather than just abusive.  (Be sure to read How to Make Your Complaints Stick on the side panel of the this page.) Strangely, there is nothing illegal about a school that is abusive to all children across the board.  It is up to you to be able to show how these abuses are focused on Native children but not on nonnative children.  For instance, a girl in Montana was suspended for wearing a certain outfit that did not fit the dress code.  She was not only suspended, but kept from certain extracurricular activities that affected her ability to graduate.  The girl told us, only upon questioning, that a certain white girl wore the same outfit but wasn't punished.  This resulted in our being able to file a complaint.  In another school, the principal was told that he needed to implement curriculum that reflected Native culture.  He said that he didn't think it was necessary, as it wouldn't benefit the entire school.  That was also filed as a discriminatory action.  Why should Native kids learn US History if nonnative kids don't need to learn Native history?

It is important to make note of each and every single offense, no matter how small it is. There may be times when a complaint may not be investigated as it falls under an old complaint, however, when these violations continue to come in, it will be clear that these offenses are continuing.

An effective way to deal with the Office of Civil Rights is to gather as many complaints as possible and filing them all together.  This will provide a few additional benefits.

First of all, the school will be less likely to retaliate against each person who files when there are so many complaints all at once.  This is a way of providing the complainants with some protection.  There is always safety in numbers.  Further, if many complaints come in, the OCR will be more likely to investigate every aspect of the entire school rather than just one complaint.

However, even if you or your child are the only ones suffering discrimination, it is important to file your complaints. If you are concerned that you or your child will suffer retaliation contact STAR and we will assist you.

Remember, if it seems discriminatory to you in any way, don't just think about it, send it in as a complaint to the Office of Civil Rights.   If the parents in the committee decide they want STAR to participate in exposing the complaints to the media, contact us and we will tell you how we can help. This can result in letters and calls from outside media and other sources which causes the school to feel they are living under a microscope.  It is our belief that this kind of exposure is what is often needed to force these schools to change.

All press releases that are sent out by STAR must be approved by the parent committee before they are distributed anywhere. There will no names or identifying characteristics in the press releases and they will also be approved by our attorney to assure that nothing we send out can be held liable.

The Department of Education

The Department of Education can also be brought into the picture if federal moneys provided for Indian children are not being spent properly.  There are certain guidelines the schools must abide by but very often they go unmonitored.  Both the OCR and the CRS can help your Parents Committee insist that they be involved in deciding the ways these moneys are spent. See the section about Impact Aid Funds.

If at the end of all of these solutions, the school still is resistant to change they can indeed lose their federal funding.

The Department of Justice Community Relations Services

Community Relations Services can diffuse some of the chaos that can indeed ensue when a school has undergone a mass attack such as described above.

In some cases, when the OCR investigates a complaint, the offense is removed but the atmosphere remains the same. The advantage of employing CRS is that they not only attack individual problems, but they also address the people who allow these offenses to continue.  CRS has the skills and experience to encourage some of the nonnative community leaders to come to the table to discuss the problems Native people are facing in your community.  Where the Office of Civil Rights treats the symptoms, CRS treats the disease.  CRS will ask the Native community to come up with a resolution about the issues they want to see addressed and they will mediate with the nonnative community to work towards a common goal.  Sample resolutions can be found on this site.

What the Parent's Committee Can Accomplish

The Parent's Committee, with the support of both the OCR and the CRS, must come up with a resolution outlining exactly what changes they would like to see within the schools. This resolution would be presented to the CRS and they would mediate with the schools and nonnative community leaders to see these resolutions through to reality.

The School Policies

The Parents Committee should go through the master list of school policies and find for themselves all the ways that the school violates their own policies.  This policy book can be obtained through the superintendent or the school board.  Policies that are not followed by the administration, or are ignored in a discriminatory way can be brought to the attention of the school board. If they do not correct the problem (and they usually don't) then file a complaint with the OCR. Parents should go to the school board with a written complaint and request (demand) a written response within two weeks. If there is no response, then file a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights and the US Department of Education. Document what happened, what is the policy, how it has been violated.