Davis School District releases videos to encourage inclusiveness 

WOODS CROSS, Utah — After the Department of Justice said last year that there were findings of “racial harassment” in the Davis School District, administrators, teachers and students got to work. 

Students are now helping produce videos about inclusiveness.  

They say despite the DOJ’s findings, there are still some who don’t believe racism is an issue in Davis schools. 

Just because you haven’t seen the problem first-hand doesn’t mean it’s not there. 

“I had people who would walk up to me and say that, like, it was being overreacted, because their friend group, or they haven’t seen anything personally,” Hannah Richardson, a senior at Woods Cross High School, said.

Brielle Hall, also a Woods Cross senior, said, “It was kind of more like, finally, this is being brought to light after how many years of like, being ignored?” 

Now, the challenge for these students is getting more of their peers to listen. 

“So instead of brushing it off, or like claiming it’s a joke, just really taking the time to take it all in and, like, see that, okay, maybe I need to switch,” Hannah Frost, a senior at Northridge High School, said.

That includes taking the topic more seriously in some cases. 

Northridge senior Joshua Flores said, “Countless times I’ve heard people using the ‘it’s a joke’ as a coverup story.” 

Once they can get more people focused on inclusiveness, they say they can then work on how to prevent racism.

“Pretty amazing,” Caray Long, a coordinator for the district’s Office of Equal Opportunity, said. “They are very well spoken.” 

Long is a former student in the district. She said she’s grateful to see students taking the lead. 

“We have a big issue in our district, and our students are willing to be a part of that change, so it’s great. Just amazing,” Long added. 

Monday was just the beginning, and that became clear for these students once they saw how some of their peers reacted. 

“It just kind of reminded me of like how far we have to go,” Hall said. 

The students say they’ve also seen a lot of positive reactions to the videos.  

New videos will be shown on the second Monday of each month.