TBA Law Blog


Posted by: Stacey Shrader Joslin on Jun 10, 2024

The U.S. Justice Department today announced a settlement agreement with Hawkins County Schools to resolve allegations of race-based harassment and other discrimination of Black students. The investigation, conducted with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee, found that incidents of harassment — including a mock “slave auction” to sell Black students to their white counterparts — created a racially hostile environment. Under the agreement, the school system will take several concrete steps, including hiring a compliance officer and a consultant to help create a discrimination-free learning environment, creating an online portal to track complaints, updating its racial harassment and school discipline policies, and conducting training and educational events for staff and parents. Read more from the department.