Standing for Orem Reveals Alpine School District Under Scrutiny by DOE Regarding Hispanic Programs

Standing for Orem today announced that the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) has opened case number 08-22-1511 in response to a complaint against Utah’s Alpine School District filed by retired school administrator and Latino student advocate Herminio Trujillo this summer. DOE has agreed to evaluate the complaint for potential further action.

The complaint alleges that “Alpine School District has discriminated against Title 1 and minority students on the basis of race, color, and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.” This includes failure to remediate building seismic safety issues at multiple Orem schools serving high concentrations of Latino students. At issue also is allocation of funds away from Orem schools with the highest density of Title 1 and Hispanic students. It is alleged that the school district failed to communicate remediation issues to the Orem City Council for years. According to Standing for Orem, there are also burning questions as to equal access to the district’s Specialty Classes made more available outside Orem.

Mr. Trujillo’s complaint stemmed from a detailed Comprehensive Orem School District Feasibility Study presented to Orem City Council on July 15th, 2022. The complaint emphatically requests immediate review and correction to inequities revealed over a 16-year period as reported in the study.

For a copy of the complete complaint letter and questions regarding it, the media may contact Mr. Trujillo at 801-368-3660 or Arturo Morales at arturo1997USA@gmail.com.

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