Pennsylvania school district loses bid to toss racism lawsuit

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Bi-racial students alleging racism at a Pennsylvania school district will be allowed to pursue their lawsuit further, thanks to a recent ruling by a federal judge.

Judge Jeffrey Schmehl on May 21 denied the motion to dismiss filed by Northwestern Lehigh School District, finding the racism allegations “serious” and bolstered by claims the district had a custom of indifference to racially hostile environments.

Five students and their mothers have alleged they were subjected to being called the N-word and f**got during the 2023-24 school year. One student had teachers blow a whistle in his ear to keep him awake.

“At this stage of the litigation, the Court accepts Plaintiffs’ allegations of a pattern of deliberate indifference to racial harassment and a failure to train employees as true and must allow the equal protection claim against the School District to proceed to discovery,” Schmehl wrote.

The plaintiffs filed suit in January. Among the allegations was that one student suggested a plaintiff's group team in science class be called the Nuclear (N-words). In response, the district said it paid for two third-party investigations in response to complaints from the plaintiffs.

Two of the plaintiffs and their mother were interviewed on Feb. 27, 2024 - 18 days after the mother reported teachers blew a whistle in T.C.'s ear and forced him to run outside of class to keep him awake.

Her complaint said he was disciplined seven times for falling asleep in class, but the district said only three of his 16 discipline referrals were related solely to sleeping. On one occasion, T.C. said he was tired because he stayed up late, but his mother said his medications make him drowsy.

The investigation resulted in interviews of around 10 members of school staff and a safety plan, class changes, conferences with his mother and a special education evaluation.

The investigation report faulted the school for blowing the whistle and making him run, though the district says three of four individuals present at a meeting with the mother believed she agreed to it.

"Moreover, the rationale was that T.C. is a student-athlete (he plays basketball), and the staff believed these were good techniques to motivate him to stay awake/alert in class," the motion to dismiss said.

"The School District admits these techniques were atypical, but when reviewed with all available information, they fall incredibly short of deliberate indifference to a violation of a constitutional right."

The complaint said the student body at the district is only 1.5% African American, and it wasn't until 2021 did it hire a Black teacher. That teacher later sued the district for racial discrimination and settled in June 2024.

Another mother said her three children were also discriminated against and it wasn't addressed. Instances of the N-word on a school bus led to a fight, and it was alleged a student took one kid's Chromebook and put the N-word as its background.

The complaint alleged deliberate indifference by the school district in failing to react, but the district said it took the allegations seriously.

"The School District Defendants investigated each report of racial harassment," the motion to dismiss says. "But for one incident wherein an offending student was not punished, all offending students were disciplined."