The U.S. Justice Department has announced a settlement with Madison County Schools. They have agreed to resolve complaints of what have been called “serious and widespread” racial harassment of Black and other students.
The department opened its investigation in October 2021 under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
The department’s investigation uncovered several incidents of race-based harassment in which Black and multi-racial students were called racial epithets and were subjected to other derogatory racial comments by their peers.
The department says the school district did not consistently or reasonably address the harassment, which was at times reinforced by use of Confederate flags and imagery.
In a statement, officials with Madison County schools said they have fully cooperated with the DOJ’s investigation and “The district will continue working closely with the department to implement policy and procedure changes outlined in the agreement.”
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