Davis School District

Davis School District is a school district serving Davis County, Utah, United States. Headquartered in the county seat of Farmington, it is the 61st largest school district in the United States and the 2nd largest school district in Utah with 72,987 students attending Davis schools as of 2019. It is located almost entirely within Davis County. Students attend elementary school from kindergarten to 6th grade, junior high from 7th grade-9th grade, and high school from 10th grade-12th grade. History The school district was founded in 1911 with 2,730 students attending 31 neighborhood schools across Davis County. The inaugural school board member and president was future Utah governor Henry Blood. In 2006, the Davis School District received recognition for having the nation's top graduation rate among the 100 largest school districts in the United States, according to a survey by the Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Also in 2006, the superintendent, Dr. W. Bryan Bowles was awarded superintendent of the year in Utah. For the 2016–17 school year, Reid Newey moved from the Weber School District to become the superintendent of DSD. As of 2026, the current superintendent is Dan Linford. Controversies and Lawsuits American Civil Liberties Union Lawsuit (2012) In 2012, district administrators were sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for deciding to remove the book In Our Mothers’ House by children's author Patricia Polacco from the shelves of their elementary school libraries due to its content about lesbian mothers. The district returned the book to shelves a few months later. Lawsuit Against a School District Bus Driver and Department of Justice Investigation (2019) In 2019, a Davis school bus driver closed the bus doors on the backpack of a boy, pinning him outside the bus and dragging him forward over 150 feet. His family sued the driver, alleging this was done intentionally to racially harass the boy, who was biracial. They pointed to previous instances of racial harassment by the driver and attempts at retaliation for reporting him. The district settled the suit in 2021 for $62,500 and acknowledged the racial assault. The incident also sparked a three-year investigation into the Davis School District by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ). That investigation found that racial harassment was widespread in the school district and hundreds of complaints were intentionally unaddressed. Black and Asian students in the district faced a hostile environment where they were subjected to racial slurs, and Davis School District employees responded to complaints by telling them "not to be so sensitive or [making] excuses for harassing students by explaining that they were 'not trying to be racist'". The DOJ required the district to create a plan to address the systemic problems moving forward which included changing its policies, offering more training, and creating an equity department for racial discrimination complaints with a director that is approved by the federal government. Department of Justice Settlement (2021-2025) In October of 2021 after a three-year investigation, the Department of Justice publicly determined that Davis School District "had failed to respond appropriately to known harassment of Black and Asian-American students, including frequent racial slurs and epithets, threats of violence, and physical assault by staff and students." They used Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to make the District enter into a settlement to resolve these issues.Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination of any protected class in any institution that receives federal funding (like the Davis School District). Lawsuit from death because of racially motivated bullying (2021) In 2021, a ten-year-old black girl who attended the District's Foxboro Elementary School committed suicide due to racist bullying, sparking national outcry. An independent investigation that was commissioned by the district found that staff had joined in on the mistreatment of the girl. In 2023, her family was awarded $2 million in a civil rights settlement, to be paid by Davis School District. Removal of the Bible and other books from some schools (2022) In 2023, the district removed the Bible from its elementary and middle schools while keeping it in high schools after a committee reviewed the scripture in response to a parental complaint. The district has removed other titles, including Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian and John Green’s Looking for Alaska, following a 2022 state law requiring districts to include parents in decisions over what constitutes "sensitive material." The ban was lifted a few weeks later. Lawsuit by staff member investigating discrimination per DOJ Agreement (2024) In 2022, Joscelin Thomas was hired by Davis School District per the 2021 DOJ agreement to investigate instances of racial harassment that were reported but not acted on by the District. In January 2024, she alleged that she was discriminated against multiple times, including wrongful termination, because of her skin color. The District and former employee settled for $143,558 out of court later that year. Lawsuit by 6 former Davis High School female soccer players alleging "institutional betrayal" (2026) In January 2026, 6 former members of the Davis High Girls' Soccer team sued the District over its mishandling of grooming and sexual harassment complaints regarding their head coach. During his tenure at Davis High, head coach Soulivanh "Souli" Phongsavath faced accusations of grooming and sexual harassment from multiple former and current players. The mishandling of these complaints led to additional harassment by students and staff. Allegations against the head coach: Encouraging the female players to make music video recreations wearing swimsuits, sometimes on school grounds Judging female players in dance competitions at pool parties he attended Engaging in sexually charged one-on-one conversations with female players in person, via text and Snapchat, including details of his former work as a stripper Allegations against the Davis School District: Leaking the identities of the girls who brought allegations against Souli Refusing to intervene when retaliation started because of their leaked identities Allegations against Dan Linford, District Superintendent: Dismissing the above allegations against the head coach as "not concerning to him or to the district" Conflict of interest in dismissing these allegations, given that his son plays for a club team Souli coaches Communities Davis School District, which has the same boundaries as that of Davis County, serves the following communities: Schools The following schools are part of Davis School District: Elementary schools Junior high schools High schools Special schools See also List of the largest school districts in the United States by enrollment List of school districts in Utah Notes References External links Official website Davis Education Foundation DavisParents.org - Parent Advocacy Group