© 2024
NPR News, Colorado Stories
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

News brief with Boulder Reporting Lab: BVSD settles civil rights case for $32.5K

 A red brick building with a bell tower and grass lawn, seen from an adjacent road.
John Herrick
/
Boulder Reporting Lab
In 2022, a principal at Whittier Elementary School said a white student made a discriminatory comment to a Black student. The family of the white student then sued the district for "unfair and selectively enforced disciplinary processes, and other discrimination on the basis of race."

The Boulder Valley School District will pay out $32,500 after being sued under the Civil Rights Act of 1964.

In January 2022 at Whittier Elementary School, a white student told two Black students he wanted them to be his bodyguards and servants, Boulder Reporting Lab Senior Reporter John Herrick told KUNC in a debrief.

“The mom of one of those Black students filed a complaint with the school that was investigated by the principal, who determined that those remarks were discriminatory,” Herrick told KUNC.

The white student apologized and was moved to another classroom. However, that student’s family thought the school’s response to the incident was unfair.

“In fact, they alleged that the Black student and her mother had bullied their son and that the principal did nothing to hold them accountable,” Herrick said.

The white student and his family claim the school district subjected them to a different disciplinary process on the basis of their race.

As a reporter and host for KUNC, I follow the local stories of the day while also guiding KUNC listeners through NPR's wider-scope coverage. It's an honor and a privilege to help our audience start their day informed and entertained.
Related Content