HAWKINS COUNTY, Tenn. — A local school district has been ordered to pay $110,000 after being sued in a civil rights case.
A judge ordered the Hawkins County School District to pay the money after a woman accused the district of mishandling racially motivated harassment and discrimination.
The U.S. Department of Justice opened an investigation into the school district and its handling of the situation. The Department of Justice sorted through 2,000 pages of documents, from witness notes to video and audio recordings.
Government documents show multiple Black students were subjected, by white students, to racially based and gross harassment.
In a settlement agreement, the DOJ said during two school years, in 2021-22 and 2022-23 the district was "deliberately indifferent to known race-based harassment." The investigation came to light after one of the victim's mothers filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Board of Education.
Court documents said in the spring of 2022 a student held a mock "slave auction" in a school bathroom to "sell" Black students to a group of white students. In one instance, according to records, a student chased a Black student out of a bathroom with a stuffed monkey.
They later sent the Black student a Snapchat video with derogatory language.
Someone reported it to a teacher, but no further action was taken. In the fall of 2022, findings show there were multiple instances of harassment, such as students making whipping noises and telling their Black counterparts to pick cotton.
Along with multiple uses of racial slurs, and comments about and drawings in reference to the Ku Klux Klan. During that school year, there were nine reports of racially motivated harassment and threats, but no disciplinary action was taken or no further action was documented.
The DOJ said the harassment was so severe, that it deprived the victim of access to educational opportunities or benefits.
In January the district agreed to a settlement of about $110,000 with about half of that going to the victim. DOJ officials wouldn't comment. 10News was told the Hawkins County Director of Schools is out of office. The Board of Education Chair didn't want to speak on the record.
As part of the agreement, Hawkins County Schools will need to implement at least eight specific changes, listed below.
- Hiring a compliance officer to oversee the effective resolution of race discrimination and harassment complaints;
- Retaining a consultant to support the school district in implementing the agreement and creating a discrimination-free learning environment for all;
- Creating a new electronic reporting portal to track and manage complaints and the district’s response to complaints;
- Updating its racial harassment and school discipline policies to more accurately track and consistently respond to complaints of race-based harassment;
- Training staff on how to identify, investigate and respond to complaints of racial harassment and discriminatory discipline practices;
- Informing students and parents of how to report harassment and discrimination;
- Implementing listening sessions, school climate surveys, training and educational events on identifying and preventing race discrimination, including discriminatory harassment; and
- Analyzing discipline data and amending policies to ensure non-discriminatory enforcement of discipline policies.
The district said in a statement, "As noted within the Agreement with the Department of Justice itself, Hawkins County Schools “disagrees with the Department’s findings and conclusions related to allegations of race-based harassment and/or violence, and disagrees that it or its agents acted with deliberate indifference.” Our school system is - and always has been - dedicated to serving and protecting all students, regardless of race. Therefore, we entered into the Agreement with DOJ to continue pursuing those same goals, and we look forward to working with the Department regarding the same in the future."