The U.S. Department of Education is in talks with the Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, Texas, concerning four students' civil rights grievances, suggesting that the department has approved the students' demands of racist and anti-LGBTQ bias, according to three education law experts.
Education Department Validated Students' Civil Rights Complaints
The Education Department's civil rights enforcement arm outlined the next steps in its inspection in a letter to the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, which represents the students.
This advancement comes three years after the civil rights organization filed federal grievances on behalf of students who supposedly said that Carroll officials did not sufficiently address harassment.
The four students, who have either graduated or left the district, reported encountering a stream of racist and homophobic slurs and comments during their time at Carroll.
One student faced retaliation after reporting racial harassment to administrators, while another contemplated suicide due to repeated mockery of their sexual orientation, with their family asserting that the district failed to address the bullying.
The Education Department informed the NAACP Legal Defense Fund on Monday that it had initiated contact with Carroll district officials to start negotiating a resolution agreement for the four complaints, a step taken only after determining that students' civil rights were violated, according to Katrina Feldkamp, an attorney for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.
The Southlake school system now has 90 days to reach an agreement with the Education Department on addressing the issues outlined in the student complaints.
Mom of Former Student Expressed Sense of Validation from Department's Findings
Angela Jones, a Black mother of a former Carroll student who was involved in lodging complaints to the Education Department, expressed validation upon hearing about the department's findings. She had spent years advocating for changes to protect minority students in the affluent North Texas school district but faced resistance from school board members and conservative parents.
Jones hopes the district will take the department's findings seriously and engage in re-evaluation and negotiation. The argument over addressing racism in Carroll schools gained national attention as a symbol of expansive societal battles over race, gender, and sexuality.
It began in 2018 after a video of white high school students chanting racial slurs was revealed, prompting several Carroll parents and students to come forward with biased stories.
Following the complaint, a committee was formed to formulate actions to address the dispute, leading to the Cultural Competence Action Plan. However, conservative backlash ensued, culminating in the composition of a political action committee and the election of hard-line conservative candidates to the school board.
The Education Department's investigations into student grievances could result in an argument between local sentiments conflicting variety of initiatives and federal enforcement of civil rights laws.
If Carroll fails to reach a voluntary agreement with the Education Department, it could face mandated changes or risk losing federal funding. Alternatively, the district could object to the department's findings in court, though such claims are commonly unsuccessful.
The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has pushed the Education Department to necessitate Carroll to carry out policies outlined in the Cultural Competence Action Plan, including forced diversity training for students and staff.
Community activist groups have also called on the district to take measures to address the unfriendly surroundings and fulfill its accountability to safeguard all students.
Former and recent Carroll students affected by bias hope that the Education Department's actions will bring about significant change and avoid similar circumstances in the future.
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