A biracial student said Bledsoe County Schools suspended her for 365 days earlier this year after she punched a white pupil for calling her a racial epithet. Not only was that an overly harsh punishment, the student and her mother say, but it actually was retaliation for reporting "years of racially demeaning comments."
According to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Chattanooga's U.S. District Court, the student received a harsher punishment than her peers because of her race. Instead of fixing the systemic racism that caused the fight, Bledsoe County Schools officials took it out on the student, the suit said.
The suit does not list a desired amount of damages but asks for a jury trial. It names Bledsoe County Schools and its director, Jennifer Terry, who said Tuesday afternoon she had not yet been served with a copy.
According to census data in the lawsuit, 6.7 percent of the population in Bledsoe County is black, or fewer than 1,000 people in the roughly 15,000-person county. As a minority at Bledsoe County High School, the student experienced racist comments on a weekly basis and often reported them to officials, the suit said. Her mother did, as well.
But the suit said they encountered a standard response. "Often, [the school] would advise [the mother] that it was 'creating a file' or 'putting this in the file, too,' as if creating a diary. But this 'file,' if it even exists, did not stop the harassment,'" attorney Justin Gilbert wrote.
Come Jan. 24, the student took matters into her own hands, the lawsuit said. When a female student called her a n-- in the school cafeteria, she punched her. The suit said this student's brother had previously received a "very brief suspension" for also calling her a n--.
"Neither [the alleged victim] nor the female student required any medical treatment, [but] both were sent to the principal's office where they were placed in separate rooms," Gilbert wrote. "[The school then] called the other student's parents to the school. Sitting next door, [the student] heard those parents yelling, and like their daughter and son, calling [her] a n --."
Later, the other student's parents posted a picture of a noose on Facebook, according to news reports.
"[School] officials warned [the alleged victim's mother] about the racism within this family. Such racism - inside and outside of the school - had an adverse educational impact on [the alleged victim]," Gilbert wrote. "However, BCHS took no action to actually protect her. It did not offer her any counseling. And it did not address the root problem of the systemic racism."
Conversely, the school suspended her for three days for fighting. That changed the next day when her mother received a letter from Terry saying her daughter's suspension actually would be much longer: 365 calendar days. As a result, the suit says, the student likely would fail her junior year and have to wait an entire 12 months to repeat it.
"Ms. Terry claimed this grossly excessive suspension was 'in accordance with Tennessee State Law,' as if her hands were somehow tied and she lacked discretion to consider the overarching circumstances of racism," Gilbert wrote. "Tennessee State Law does not require such an action."
Gilbert and the family are suing for violations of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the Equal Protection Clause. He said the overly harsh suspension has caused the student to suffer "emotional distress, humiliation, and deprivation of her right to participate in regular public education free from racial harassment."
Once Terry and the school system receive a copy and hire an attorney, they likely will file an official response in court. From there, both parties will exchange evidence and the case will move toward a dismissal, settlement or trial.
Contact staff writer Zack Peterson at zpeterson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6347. Follow him on Twitter @zackpeterson918.