Students, educators and parents press Kent board on LGBTQ safety, governance and a FERPA complaint

Several students, teachers and community members used the board’s public comment periods to press the Kent School District Board for stronger protections for LGBTQ students, clearer accountability and greater transparency about personnel and disciplinary processes.

A middle‑school student, identified as Khalilah Barnett, told the board she gathered statistics from the Trevor Project on mental‑health outcomes for LGBTQ youth in Washington and said many peers are not receiving needed care; Barnett said school should be an “affirming space” and added, “This is not true” in response to the board’s stated motto “every student, every day, every voice,” signaling a perception that policy and practice do not match that language.

Speakers from the Kent Educators of Color Network read a collective statement criticizing the board for focusing on ceremony instead of student outcomes, calling for public superintendent performance benchmarks and more transparent follow‑up on equity goals. A representative of the Kent Principal Association urged the board to refocus on policy that affects student outcomes, including attendance, credit recovery and equitable grading.

A parent, Jennifer Liggett, described a recent Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) amendment hearing concerning her child’s individualized education program (IEP) and said district staff initially limited her right to be accompanied by her advocates; Liggett said she was preparing a formal complaint to the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, asserting denial of rights under 34 C.F.R. 99.21. She told the board she had requested a different hearing designee and that legal counsel declined to provide documentation about the process, which she called a transparency issue.

Other public commenters asked the board to address governance and civility. Several speakers criticized board members’ conduct during earlier meetings and asked for public accounting of legal fees, more visible superintendent evaluation and consistent enforcement of board policy on civility. The Kent Principal Association and multiple community members asked the board to refocus on student outcomes and to reduce procedural disputes in board meetings that community members said waste time.

Board members acknowledged the public testimony and said they would continue work over the summer; no new board policy or legal action was taken in the session. The board’s public comment rules and procedures (policy 14.20) governed the period and speakers were reminded about civility and time limits.