| 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. |
