Eureka City Schools has settled a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination toward students by district officials, agreeing to implement goals, services, and accommodations for minority and disabled students.
The lawsuit — filed in December 2013 by the National Center for Youth Law and the American Civil Liberties Union on behalf of four students — alleged that district staff intentionally discriminated against students based on race, sex and disability status, that staff perpetuated a racially hostile environment and failed to provide equal and adequate access to educational services to disabled students.
The district’s agreement to the settlement on Thursday is not an admission of liability to the claims. School district Superintendent Fred Van Vleck said the agreement provides a “structure for action.”
“I’m happy that we’re concluded on this and that we’re moving in a positive direction,” he said.
National Center for Youth Law senior attorney Michael Harris had been investigating the school district along with the Loleta Unified School District months before the lawsuit was filed. Harris said he and his organization were “very agreeable” to the provisions of the settlement, which call for the district to: establish goals for enhancing multi-cultural curricula, provide students with disabilities-appropriate accommodations and services, and reduce race- and disability-based disparities in discipline and transfers to alternative schools. The settlement also states the district will contract with an Oregon-based research group to assess the district on its school climate, focusing on any issues related to racial and gender equity along with student discipline.
“I’m really glad that the Eureka City Schools has agreed to take these very monumental steps to improve school climate and I’m looking forward to working with them to help make that happen,” Harris said.
The lawsuit
In the lawsuit filed Dec. 18, 2013, the four plaintiffs accuse the district of several discriminatory acts, such as suspending and disciplining minority students at disproportionate rates, as well as suspending minority students for heated reactions to racial bullying while the bullies went unpunished.
Van Vleck said that no complaints had been filed with the district prior to the lawsuit.
The four plaintiffs at the time of filing were 15- and 13-year-old black female students, a 14-year-old black male student and a 16-year-old Native American student who collectively attended Alice Birney Elementary, Zane Middle School, Winship Middle School, Eureka High School and the Eureka Community School Educational Resource Center.
The black plaintiffs stated in the lawsuit that they had racial slurs directed at them by classmates, with one saying students had called him “n—–,” made monkey noises at him, spit on him, threw food at him and physically assaulted him since he was in grade school. Another student alleges she and her mother brought allegations of racial bullying to administrators on about 30 occasions, but little if anything was done by school and district officials to curb the harassment.
There were also allegations that some district staff members made inappropriate remarks. One of the students alleged a white teacher told her class that “black people get bored easily,” and that a school monitor had said to her, “Don’t give me your black attitude.”
The lawsuit also alleged some teachers used inappropriate curriculum, saying some instructors used books and films in class that contained racial slurs, but did not discuss “the offensiveness and the historical context of the terms.”
The lawsuit included several allegations from the Native American plaintiff against Eureka High School, including repeated refusals to excuse her absences to attend tribal cultural activities. Another allegation in the suit claims a teacher asked students to make up Native American tribes and then had them pretend to fight each other to “teach her students that this was how Native Americans traditionally resolved conflict between their communities.”
Students with learning disabilities were also addressed, with the suit alleging that the district had failed to diagnose disabilities in some cases, resulting in the students not receiving their entitled services.
The suit also contains allegations of teachers and staff making inappropriate comments to female students, and condoning sexist acts.
Monetary compensation was sought by the students as part of the suit. Harris and Van Vleck said both sides have agreed not to discuss whether monetary compensation was awarded to the four students as part of the agreement, nor how many students, if any, were awarded compensation.
Van Vleck said the district’s staff has undergone changes since the lawsuit was filed, but the cause of the changes was “nothing even remotely related to this case.”
‘Climate’ change
Before the settlement was agreed upon, Van Vleck said the district was awarded a $3.5 million School Climate Transformation Grant from the United States Department of Education in November. The five-year allocation will go toward enhancing the support systems for students’ social, emotional and behavioral needs.
“It provides us the means to go that much further and make a positive impact on the climate of our schools,” he said.
Van Vleck said that the school has began working with Jeffrey Sprague of the University of Oregon and that the School-wide Positive and Restorative Discipline Research Group is talking with parents, students and staff. Van Vleck said the district will continue to work with these groups to adhere to the provisions of the settlement.
As part of the settlement, the independent research group will prepare a report detailing the findings from its interviews with students, parents and staff and present their findings by March 1 at a special meeting of the district’s board of trustees. The report will be made available 72 hours before the meeting.
The research group will produce a final assessment by May 1, which could include recommendations on policy and practice changes. The board will be given 90 days to review and make a decision on these recommendations.
“Once adopted, the district will develop an implementation plan and put timelines on all the tasks that need to be completed in order to fulfill the recommendations,” Harris said. “So they’ll have five years to get all that done.”
Harris said the board will decide whether to follow those recommendations.
“If they choose not to accept the recommendations, the agreement says they have to indicate why on the record,” he said. “They’ll have to give some rational reasons at their board meeting. We’re really relying on the good faith of the district to actually follow the recommendations from the expert.”
Van Vleck said he now wants to focus on “the things we’re going to do as we move forward.”
Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.
