ACLU Idaho has released a reportclaiming discrimination against Latine students is built into policy culture at public schools.
In September of 2022, ACLU Idaho began researching the difference in how Latine students were disciplined through the public school system. As well as how school policies were written to restrict them from expressing themselves in a way that non-latine students didn't experience.
"Schools districts we found had very vague dress code policies that prohibited wearing gang clothing," said Erica Rodarte Costa, a Legal Fellow for ACLU Idaho.
As for what is considered gang clothing, it is not clear. The report found that both the Nampa and Caldwell school districts were given a lot of discretion as to what is gang-related attire.
"What we found is that it's mostly items that are tied to the Hispanic community or the culture,” said Rodarte Costa.
One of the students highlighted in the Proud To Be Brown Report is Brenda, who may be familiar to you since we have been following her story for several months. She attended Caldwell High School and was dress coded for wearing a hoodie that read brown pride.
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Brenda tells us what Caldwell faculty told her when she got dress coded.
"You can't wear that hoodie. It says Brown Pride on it. It is like wearing a white pride shirt or like a Go Republic, go Donald Trump shirt," said Brenda Hernandez, a recent Caldwell High School graduate.
She is one of the many individuals the ACLU Idaho spoke to regarding their experiences through the local public school system.
"The hope is for there to be policy changes, but also cultural changes, because a lot of these things are deeply embedded within the culture of schools," said Rodarte Costa.
During the 2020- 2021 school year, more than 62% of the Caldwell School District students were Latine, that's more than 5,600 students.
And in Nampa, 38% were Latine, that's a total of more than 13,200 students.
Overall, the report found Latine students were targeted and had negative consequences based on the way they expressed their cultural identity.
"It's tiring, and I don't think other people understand that. We go through it every single day," said Hernandez.
We reached out to the Caldwell and Nampa school district for comment and have yet to hear back.
