The Biden administration’s Department of Justice (DOJ) ordered Hawkins County Schools on Monday to implement a number of measures to “end racial discrimination in its schools.”
A DOJ-led investigation into Hawkins County Schools that began in March 2023 found that the school system was “deliberately indifferent to known race-based harassment in its schools” and was ordered to spend at least three years under a federal settlement with the DOJ.
The investigation was launched last year into “16 incidents of alleged race-based harassment and/or violence” at Church Hill Middle School in the nine-month period from September 2021 to May 2022.
The investigation started shortly after a federal civil rights lawsuit, Qualls v. Hawkins County Schools, was filed on behalf of a middle school student.
The DOJ said its investigation focused on several instances of peer harassment, “including a mock ‘slave auction’ to sell Black students to their white counterparts, repeated and open use of the N-word, and a ‘monkey of the month’ campaign to ridicule Black students.”
“Although the district took steps to acknowledge the harassment, their response was not sufficient to protect the constitutional rights of Black students,” the DOJ said.
While Hawkins County Schools disagrees with the DOJ’s conclusion that it had been “deliberately indifferent to known race-based harassment in its schools, violating the equal protection rights of Black students,” the school system agreed to a settlement with the DOJ to implement the following measures, among others, to “end racial discrimination” in its schools:
- Hiring an Anti-Harassment Coordinator to oversee the effective handling 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 focus groups, 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.
Hawkins County Schools must implement many of the measures ordered by the DOJ before the start of the 2024-2025 school year, including hiring an anti-harassment coordinator.
“The Justice Department remains committed to protecting the civil rights of all students and will ensure that Hawkins County Schools takes all actions necessary to end racial discrimination in its schools,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
– – –
Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
