Image Credit: Church Hill Middle School / Facebook
The Tennessee Conservative Staff –
The Hawkins County Board of Education is still denying any responsibility in the way alleged racial harassment and bullying was handled by district employees, despite the fact that the system’s insurance carrier has settled the federal lawsuit brought against the district.
In a statement provided to News Channel 11 on Monday, Hawkins County Schools superintendent Matt Hixson stated that the school board “strongly denies” that their employees were “deliberately indifferent” to the bullying and harassment alleged in the complaint.
Hixson said the board was so sure that their employees had “acted properly and professionally” that they originally made a motion that the lawsuit be dismissed.
The statement also explains that the school board’s insurer did have the authority to choose to settle the case, and the insurance carrier made that call in this case.
The settlement, reached last week, required that the Hawkins County Board of Education pay $110,000 to the court. A portion of that would cover legal fees while almost $60,000 would be placed into an account that would be used for the education needs of the alleged minor victim.
The lawsuit was originally filed in May 2022, alleging that school officials had been negligent in their handling of “racial harassment” against a mixed-race student at Church Hill Middle School. The student’s mother, who filed the lawsuit, claims that other students called the victim racial slurs and incited fighting. She also alleges that her child was punished while the other students were not.
Documents show claims of alleged racial bullying that took place throughout 2021 and 2022. The school system did confirm that most of the alleged incidents did take place at the school.
The school system has vehemently denied any wrongdoing, stating that they had “appropriate policies and procedures in place to discourage student on student racial harassment or discrimination.” The mother claims that the school system violated its own policies by failing to discipline students for those behaviors.
Hixson’s statement can be found below in its entirety:
“The Hawkins County Board of Education (“The Board”) strongly denies its employees were deliberately indifferent to any events of alleged harassment. To the contrary, the Board believes its employees acted properly and professionally when responding to such claims, which is why the Board previously filed a Motion for Summary Judgment to dismiss this case and all its claims. (The redacted version of the Board’s Motion and its supporting documents are available to the public, and can be viewed in documents 35 through 37-5 within the Court’s online file.)
Nonetheless, the Board’s insurance carrier possessed the authority to settle this case, and it was the carrier who elected to do so. To that end, it is also important to note the carrier paid those settlement funds into the Court as directed by its Order approving settlement.
No matter what happened with this case though, the Board continues to remain committed to taking appropriate action to attempt to prevent all forms of racial harassment, as well as any type of harassment or bullying. With that, the Board encourages parents and guardians to partner with the school system in addressing these problems by discussing such issues with their children, while also always encouraging them to treat other students with kindness and to report any instances of harassment to school administrators.”
MATT HIXSON, HAWKINS COUNTY SCHOOLS SUPERINTENDENT
