DOJ reaches agreement with Central Ky. school district over racial harassment issues

The U.S. Justice Department on Monday night announced a settlement with Madison County Schools to resolve complaints of “serious and widespread” racial harassment of Black and multi-racial students.

The DOJ opened its investigation in October 2021 under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and said the investigation uncovered “numerous incidents of race-based harassment.” Black and multi-racial students were called racial slurs “and subjected to other derogatory racial comments by their peers, the DOJ said in a statement.

Madison County Schools officials in response said they had fully cooperated with the investigation.

“The district will continue working closely with the US Department of Justice to implement policy and procedure changes outlined in the agreement, particularly those that pertain to the tracking and analyzing of data pertaining to racially motivated incidents in the district,” a statement released Tuesday said.

The investigation found that the school district didn’t consistently or reasonably address the harassment, which included racial taunts and intimidation, and the harassment was at times reinforced by use of Confederate flags and imagery.

When the district did respond, it often failed to follow its own racial harassment policies and its actions were ineffective in addressing the broader hostile environment, the investigation found.

This inaction deprived Black and multi-racial students of equal access to the district’s educational opportunities and led them to conclude that the district either condoned the behavior or would not take any action to help them, officials said.

“Schools should be safe and supportive environments for all students, not places where they face racist harassment and abuse,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. “Racial harassment inflicts grievous harm on young people and violates the Constitution’s most basic promise of equal protection.

“This agreement will create the institutional changes needed to keep Black and multi-racial students safe and to provide them with a supportive educational environment. We look forward to Madison County Schools demonstrating to its students and school community that it will no longer tolerate racial discrimination in its schools.”

Carlton S. Shier IV, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, said the principles underpinning the investigation and settlement are straightforward.

“All young people are entitled to seek their educational opportunities without facing racial harassment and abuse, and schools simply must adequately protect those entrusted to their care and instruction from that offensive, harmful behavior. With this settlement, Madison County Schools are now taking an important step consistent with those basic principles,” Shier said.

Under the agreement, Madison County Schools will retain a consultant to review and revise anti-discrimination policies and procedures and support the school district as it undertakes significant institutional reforms.

Also, federal officials say Madison County Schools will:

▪ Create a new central office position to process complaints of race discrimination.

▪ Update its racial harassment and discipline policies to more accurately track and consistently respond to complaints of race-based harassment.

▪ Train staff on how to identify, investigate, and respond to complaints of racial harassment and discriminatory discipline practices.

▪ Inform students and parents of how to report harassment and discrimination.

▪ Update its centralized, electronic reporting system to track and manage complaints and the district’s response to complaints.

▪ Implement focus groups, surveys, training and educational events on identifying and preventing race discrimination, including discriminatory harassment.

▪ Analyze and review discipline data and amend policies to ensure non-discriminatory enforcement of discipline policies.

Protecting the constitutional rights of public school students is a top priority of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, officials said.

This story was originally published June 13, 2023 at 7:18 AM.