The Vermont ACLU has filed a complaint against a Vermont middle school after failing to protect a Black student from racially motivated harassment, bullying, and threats.
According to the Associated Press, the organization issued the complaint Tuesday on behalf of the student, accusing Twin Valley Middle High School in Whitingham of unlawfully denying the student “of her right to have a school environment free of racial discrimination.”
“Our client was driven from her school after the people she turned to for help did nothing to support her and further emboldened her abusers,” said ACLU of Vermont Executive Director James Lyall in a written statement. “Racist harassment and bullying remain a common experience for students of color in Vermont, and the state has a responsibility to do much more to prevent incidents like these from recurring day after day and year after year.”
Superintendent Barbara Anne Komons-Montroll argued the allegations against the school administration. She said by email Tuesday that the district has strict policies against harassment and is “committed to eliminating racism from our schools.”
After the administration was made aware of the allegations, they notified the families, investigated the incident, and took suitable disciplinary action.
“The disciplinary actions taken by us were effective. No student repeated the race-based misconduct,” she said.
While the complaint did not mention the student’s name, it stated that she was the only Black student and new student in the 10th grade during the 2020-2021 school year. As a result, she reportedly experienced harassment and discrimination, including derogatory racial slurs, references to white supremacy, and threats of physical violence.
The complaint also revealed that school officials were aware of the harassment after a male student called her a racial slur in front of a teacher and students in December 2020. In February, a group of male students signaled the Nazi salute while yelling the racial slur at the student, AP reported.
Earlier this year in March, a Snapchat video supposedly captured a group of male students yelling the slur and “Burn, Burn, Burn!” and that they hope the student “burns in hell,” the complaint states.
When the school initiated the investigation, they found a “substantiation of a violation of the school’s policy” but did not provide a concrete plan to protect the student, the complaint alleged.
“The student feared for her safety and dropped out of school sports, her grades suffered, and she developed anxiety and depression, forcing her to transfer to another school, the ACLU says in the complaint.”
Komons-Montroll said the school district disputes the suggestion that it failed to follow the law and will prevail in any litigation on the matter.
“We will zealously defend our actions before the Human Rights Commission, and in any subsequent litigation,” she said by email.
