Vermont school district reached agreement to tackle racial harassment among students – VTDigger

The Elmore-Morristown Unified Union School District has reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice following allegations it failed to address racial harassment among students, according to a press release Wednesday from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Vermont.

The settlement comes after a federal investigation found the district did not adequately respond to incidents of racial harassment from fellow students, which contributed to a hostile educational environment. The Justice Department said the harassment largely occurred at Peoples Academy in Morristown. 

An investigation, which examined three year’s worth of complaints, revealed the district failed to address severe and widespread harassment of Black and biracial students. The report described a hostile environment where students were subjected to frequent racial slurs, Confederate flags, and Nazi symbols and salutes.

“Racial harassment makes students feel unsafe, deprives them of a supportive educational environment and violates the Constitution’s most basic promise of equal protection,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division in the press release.

Under the agreement, the district is required to implement measures to better prevent and address harassment in the future, including revising policies and procedures to make clear they cover conduct that contributes to “a hostile environment,” not just actions aimed at individual students. The district must also investigate harassment reports quickly and fairly and take action to address harm, prevent future harassment and protect students who come forward from retaliation.

In consideration of this agreement, the justice department agreed to close its investigation without further enforcement action.

The Justice Department said the school district cooperated with the investigation and is actively implementing improvements.

“We have been transparent about the harmful and dehumanizing language that has been used in our schools, especially when students returned from the pandemic,” said Ryan Heraty, superintendent of the Elmore School in a letter Tuesday to the Elmore-Morristown community . “Through this intentional work, we have seen dramatic declines in student misbehavior.”