Department of Justice reviewing Kentucky's Madison County Schools after race discrimination settlement

The U.S. Department of Justice Thursday night is visiting Madison County and evaluating compliance with a settlement agreement to resolve race-based discrimination complaints in public schools.

Madison County Schools spokesperson Erin Stewart said Wednesday the Department of Justice has been very involved in the district over the past year.

Representatives have been visiting the district for professional developments as part of the agreement the district entered with the DOJ.

This week, justice officials are making a district-wide site visit, Stewart said.

“They are observing in our schools over the course of the week, ending their visit at the professional development planned for Friday,” Stewart said. “Madison County Schools is looking forward to their continued visits to the district.”

The Richmond-Madison County Branch of the NAACP will meet with the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. In addition to this outreach meeting, federal officials will conduct site visits and meetings for evaluating the Madison County School District’s compliance with a settlement agreement between the school district and the feds.

The agreement, signed in September 2023, primarily stemmed from the federal government determining there was an inadequate response by Madison County Schools to known harassment of Black students, including tolerance of racial slurs and epithets being directed at Black students, and disparate punishment of Black students relative to their white peers.

The authority for DOJ to have launched their investigation leading up to the September 2023 settlement was Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which includes protections for all students to receive equal education opportunities free of harassment and intimidation.

As part of the DOJ-Civil Rights Division’s visit, the agency will be hosting a 7 p.m. community outreach meeting in Room 138 of the Madison County Library.

Members of the NAACP Richmond-Madison County Branch, including the Branch’s Education Committee members, will be attending and participating in the meeting to discuss any potential concerns, areas in which any improvements have been observed or reported, and to provide additional insights into the educational climate for children attending schools in the county and and surrounding area.

The NAACP is providing this update as part of fulfilling its mission to secure the political, educational, and economic equality of rights in order to eliminate race-based discrimination and ensure the health and well-being of all persons.

The DOJ opened its investigation in October 2021 under Title IV of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and said the investigation uncovered “numerous incidents of race-based harassment.”

Black and multiracial students were called racial slurs “and subjected to other derogatory racial comments by their peers, the DOJ said in a statement.

Madison County Schools officials in response said they had fully cooperated with the investigation.

The investigation found that the school district didn’t consistently or reasonably address the harassment, which included racial taunts and intimidation, and the harassment was at times reinforced by use of Confederate flags and imagery.

When the district did respond, it often failed to follow its own racial harassment policies and its actions were ineffective in addressing the broader hostile environment, the investigation found.

This inaction deprived Black and multiracial students of equal access to the district’s educational opportunities and led them to conclude that the district either condoned the behavior or would not take any action to help them, officials said.

“Schools should be safe and supportive environments for all students, not places where they face racist harassment and abuse,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division. “Racial harassment inflicts grievous harm on young people and violates the Constitution’s most basic promise of equal protection.

“This agreement will create the institutional changes needed to keep Black and multiracial students safe and to provide them with a supportive educational environment. We look forward to Madison County Schools demonstrating to its students and school community that it will no longer tolerate racial discrimination in its schools,” she said.

Carlton S. Shier IV, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky, said in 2023 the principles underpinning the investigation and settlement were straightforward.

“All young people are entitled to seek their educational opportunities without facing racial harassment and abuse, and schools simply must adequately protect those entrusted to their care and instruction from that offensive, harmful behavior. With this settlement, Madison County Schools are now taking an important step consistent with those basic principles,” Shier said.

Under the agreement, Madison County Schools will retain a consultant to review and revise anti-discrimination policies and procedures and support the school district as it undertakes significant institutional reforms, he previously said.

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