SUNNYSIDE, Wash.- The intent to sue notice from the ACLU of Washington and Empowering Latina Leaders and Action (ELLA) to the Sunnyside School District comes after reports from students and parents of an imbalance on the school board.
The pending lawsuit claims that the district’s current at-large election model doesn’t reflect the 86% Latinx voters in the city or the 81% Latinx within the district.
Raquel Lopez, the parent of a Sunnyside School District student, says the lack of representation on the school board, has caused an unsafe environment for Latinx students.
She says her son was assaulted at school in January. Though he had warning of the attack, he wasn’t able to ask for help from the school for fear of being laughed at and ignored.
“There’s no representation,” says Lopez. “No one looks like him on the school board. No one talks like him, no one. There’s no representation for us at all.”
ACLU’s Lead Attorney on this case, David Montes, says the district map is to blame. He says in 2023, the Latinx District 5 candidate received 92% of the district vote.
But because of the at-large election model, every district was able to vote and the Latinx candidate lost the race.
“When you add in those other district, what you end up getting is District 5 not being allowed to choose the person they want to represent them,” says Montes. “That is the definition of vote dilition.
Lopez says the lack of representation is not a new thing to Sunnyside. Growing up in the district, she remembers having to translate for her dad at school board meetings because there were not other options.
With proposed updates to the district map, Lopez hopes even one Latinx school board member would help students like her son feel comfortable enough to report problems as needed.
“The decision by the school board affects our children,” says Lopez. “Not just my child, everybody’s children. We all need to have a voice on there.
SSD has until July 1 to have a solution proposed and approved by ELLA and ACLU or the lawsuit will be filed.
The district says it has received the documents and is reviewing them, but has no further comment.
Part of a solution for ELLA and the ACLU is the new district maps that make the Latinx votes matter.
“The way it’s currently drawn, Latinx would only have an opportunity at about 40% representation,” says Montes. “They make up 82% of the population.”
