(Radio Iowa) – A northwest Iowa school district plans to provide more training after community complaints of racism from students. During the school board meeting M-O-C Floyd Valley student Itzel Benitez says her sister and other Latino students have faced racism in school. “All I’m expecting from this school is to do better for their students, for their staff and their community, and to stop looking the other way,” she says.

Superintendent Mike Mulder says he’s heard from concerned parents and citizens in the Orange City district, and he will do something about it. “Ultimately, our goal is to ensure that our students, when they walk through our doors, feel safe, feel supported, and prepared for their success. So this is the work that we’re committed to today, and the work that we need to continue moving forward,” he says. The district wants to hire a third party to provide additional training for staff on cultural and bias-awareness training. One board member says some of the issues raised by the public are out of the school district’s control.

About 25 percent of students who attend M-O-C-Floyd Valley are minorities, and some say some students who were told to “go back to their home countries,” and a high schooler wearing a shirt that said “ICE, ICE, Baby” with a photo of President Trump.