Washington Elementary School District learns a costly lesson on discrimination

The Washington Elementary School District — or rather, its taxpayers — learned a pricey lesson this week.

Discrimination is not only ugly, it can be downright expensive.

On Wednesday evening, the school board held a special meeting to settle a federal lawsuit brought by Arizona Christian University.

Without comment, the board voted 4-1 to resume using ACU student teachers and to pay $25,000 in ACU’s legal fees, according to terms of the settlement laid out by ACU’s attorneys.

“This is a complete vindication of the rights of our students to be able to participate as student-teachers in a public school district without fear of religious discrimination,” ACU President Len Munsil said, in a news release.

“We obtained everything we wanted in this new agreement, without any sacrifice or compromise to our beliefs and our university’s religious purpose.”

District is 'pleased' and $25K poorer

The school district’s only response was basically a non-response.

“We are pleased that the case against the WESD has been dismissed,” board president Nikkie Gomez-Whaley said.

Pleased and $25,000 poorer.

It was a complete capitulation — one that fortunately came sooner rather than later, given that taxpayers presumably are picking up the tab.

The settlement comes just two months after the school board unanimously voted to discontinue its 11-year-old partnership with ACU, not because of anything the student teachers did but because of what they believe.

School board didn't like ACU's beliefs

Specifically, that marriage is between one man and one woman. Every ACU student signs a statement of faith that includes this belief.

That didn’t sit right with Tamillia Valenzuela, a newly elected Washington Elementary board member who noted that she and two others on the five-member board are LGBTQ.

“At some point we need to get real with ourselves and take a look who we are making legal contracts with and the message that that is sending to our community because that makes me feel like I could not be safe in this school district,” Valenzuela said, in making a motion to end ACU's contract at the Feb. 23 board meeting.

“That makes queer kids who are already facing attack from our lawmakers feel that they could not be safe in this community.”

Valenzuela was the lone no vote against settling the lawsuit on Wednesday.

25 student teachers, no complaints

Arizona Christian has provided student teachers to Washington Elementary schools for 11 years.

The contract renewal was a routine item, put on a February consent agenda with a recommendation from the administration that it be renewed.

Another view: District had every right to cancel that contract

Every board member voted to terminate the contract. This, even though no one could point to so much as a single complaint about any ACU student teacher.

In fact, Washington Elementary has had 25 student teachers from ACU in the last 11 years, every one of whom had to sign a document agreeing to abide by the district’s non-discrimination policies.

The district has hired 17 ACU graduates, according to ACU’s lawyers at the Alliance Defending Freedom.

Their actions were never going to fly

After the February vote, the school district sent me a statement from board president Gomez-Whaley justifying the vote, saying the district “is committed to creating a welcoming environment for all our students, families, and staff.”

Except, apparently, for those who believe differently than the school board.

I understand the board’s desire to protect LGBTQ students. These are vulnerable children and the culture warriors on the right have put a bull’s-eye smack on their small backs.

But for a public school district to presumptively reject an entire class of people just because the school board doesn’t approve of their religious beliefs?

That was never going to fly, nor should it.

Reach Roberts at laurie.roberts@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter at @LaurieRoberts.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Washington Elementary learns a costly lesson about discimination