Davis School District picks new Office of Equal Opportunity leader
Photo supplied, Davis School District
Darrin Nash, pictured in this undated photo, has been picked to head Davis School District's Office of Equal Opportunity. He took over in the post on July 1, 2023.FARMINGTON — Davis School District has tabbed a new official to head its Office of Equal Opportunity, created in the aftermath of a 2021 U.S. Department of Justice report blasting the district’s handling of race-based harassment and discrimination.
Darrin Nash, previously the principal of Doxey Elementary in Sunset, took over on July 1 as head of the office, the district said in a statement last week. Kenneth Auld previously held the post.
“I’m excited about my new role because I am in a position to help promote a sense of hope for kids,” Nash said. Nash has served as a guidance counselor and administrator in varied roles in the school district.
“Mr. Nash is a veteran school leader, community organizer and most importantly a champion of students,” said Assistant Superintendent Fidel Montero, hired on last year in part to help lead the Office of Equal Opportunity, or OEO. In his role as OEO director, Montero said, Nash will help spearhead efforts “to expand solutions to one of the most complex challenges in our school district.”
In the wake of the release of the Oct. 21, 2021, Department of Justice report, Davis School District officials have taken numerous steps to address the issues identified by federal investigators. They created the OEO and officials approved a new nondiscrimination policy last year, among other things.
The OEO, according to its website, is tasked with “responding to, investigating and resolving complaints of student-on-student and staff-on-student harassment and discrimination.”
Among the means of tackling the issue was creation of an online portal, the Harassment, Discrimination Reporting System, to allow reporting of complaints of harassment and discrimination. The system went live at the start of the 2022-2023 school year.
The 2021 Department of Justice report “revealed persistent failures to respond to reports of race-based harassment of Black and Asian-American students by district staff and other students,” reads a press release issued at the time.
Davis School District officials didn’t immediately respond to a query seeking additional comment on Nash’s selection.