The U.S. Department of Education has reached a resolution in a racial harassment investigation of the Ottumwa Community School District.
The Department’s Office for Civil Rights determined a black middle school student was repeatedly subjected to racial taunts and called racist names for two years beginning in the 2020-2021 school year — and the district failed to provide the student with a safe school environment.
Some of the provisions of the agreement include the district reimbursing the student’s parent for expenses incurred related to past and future therapy services resulting from the racially hostile environment.
The district must publish an anti-harassment statement, review and revise its policies and procedures to address racial harassment, and provide training to district staff on how to respond to complaints of harassment, and provide age-appropriate information programs for students to address harassment.