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TRENTON
– Division on Civil Rights Director
Chinh Q. Le announced today that the Division
has issued a Finding of Probable Cause against
the Board of Education in Franklin Township,
Gloucester County, for allegedly not taking
sufficient steps to end the race-based bullying
of a student that went on for nearly four
years.
Named
as sole Respondent in the Finding of Probable
Cause, the Franklin Township Board of Education
oversees an elementary district made up
of four schools. According to the Division,
the district did not deal adequately with
the persistent verbal harassment of an African-American
female student that began when the victim
was in third grade and continued through
her sixth-grade year. The alleged harassment
consisted of race-based name calling and
other bias-driven remarks by other students
on the school bus and elsewhere while the
girl attended Main Road School from 2005
through 2009.
“Our investigation suggests this girl
was subjected to repeated racial harassment,”
said Director Le. “The student conduct
described in this case is deplorable, and
the lack of a genuinely effective response
by the school district illustrates a concern
we are committed to addressing statewide
through both awareness and enforcement.”
The Franklin Township school district has
denied that it engaged in unlawful discrimination,
or that the girl was a victim of racial
harassment or a hostile school environment.
The district also has asserted that any
incidents of harassment or bullying reported
by the girl were investigated immediately
by administrators and acted on appropriately.
In addition, the district has said it takes
a proactive approach to preventing harassment,
intimidation and bullying, and to educating
students regarding diversity.
However,
the Finding of Probable Cause notes that
the alleged harassment persisted over a
four-year span despite numerous complaints
from the girl’s parents to the school’s
principal and the Franklin Township schools
superintendent.
According
to the Finding of Probable Cause, the girl
was so distraught over the harassment she
told her parents she did not wish to go
to school. In May 2006, she missed a total
of 15 days. Her parents requested she be
transferred to another school for the coming
academic year and were denied.
The race-based harassment continued during
the girl’s fourth-grade year and in
subsequent years, until she graduated Main
Road School in June 2009. The harassment
involved multiple alleged offenders, and
reported incidents increased in number and
intensity.
Division
Director Le said that, for school districts,
responding to reported incidents of bullying
after-the-fact may not be sufficient in
cases where educators have been made aware
of a pattern of repeated harassment.
“School
districts have a responsibility to create
and maintain a harassment-free learning
environment. And they have a legal duty,
when confronted with reports a student is
being bullied, to take affirmative steps
that are ‘reasonably calculated’
to end it,” said Le.
A Finding of Probable Cause does not resolve
a civil rights complaint. Rather, it means
the State has concluded its preliminary
investigation and determined there is sufficient
evidence to support a reasonable suspicion
New Jersey’s Law Against Discrimination
(LAD) has been violated. The LAD provides
that each Respondent found to have committed
a violation is subject to a penalty of up
to $10,000. The LAD also provides for other
remedies, including compensatory damages
and injunctive relief, such as changes in
the employer's policies and management/staff
training.
Now
that the Division has issued a Finding of
Probable Cause, the Franklin Township Board
of Education case will be referred for a
process known as Conciliation. If Conciliation
is not successful, the matter will be referred
for a non-jury trial before an Administrative
Law Judge. Once the trial is completed,
the presiding Administrative Law Judge will
issue a written Initial Decision.
Investigator
Alexander Garcon, Camden Office Manager
John Beauchamp and Staff Attorney Estelle
Bronstein handled the Franklin Township
Board of Education matter on behalf of the
State.
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