Mpls. schools settle federal discrimination claim over South High harassment

The Minneapolis School District settled a federal complaint saying that it failed to stop the harassment of black and Somali students at South High School during the 2012-13 school year.

The settlement, signed by Superintendent Bernadeia Johnson on Sept. 25 and released Friday, will require the district to take action in 13 different areas and submit monitoring reports to the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.

"We welcome this agreement and hope it will lead to an educational environment free of harassment based on race, religion or national origin," said Ellen Longfellow, the attorney for the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

CAIR filed the complaint in March 2013 with the Department of Education after a cafeteria fight involving 200 to 300 students erupted at South High School in February of that year. Students said the fight marked a boiling point in growing racial tension at the school.

Before the federal government got involved, "we started a process immediately," said Stan Alleyne, the district's chief communications officer. "[The federal government] is monitoring what we are doing."

Following the fight, South senior Guled Omar told the Star Tribune that students had complained to the school district and principal about perceived discrimination, but that nothing had been done.

The district settled the complaint before the Office of Civil Rights completed its investigation.

For Minneapolis, the requirements of the settlement range from creating an anti-harassment statement to creating a student committee at the high school that will discuss race relations and suggest measures for improving the district's anti-harassment program.

It requires the district to investigate all incidents of harassment on the basis of race, color or national origin. By June 2015, the district must document all written or oral reports of incidents involving allegations of harassment and what disciplinary actions the district took to remedy the complaints.

The district said following the February 2013 incident the district did its own internal review and had already addressed the issues in the complaint.

"We feel like the district and the school has implemented all of the recommendations," Alleyne said. "Most of them we already have in place."

Following the cafeteria fight, district officials held numerous community, parent and student meetings, Alleyne said.

Proof that those committees were established must to be provided to the Office of Civil Rights as early as October.

Alleyne said that South High School has addressed those issues already.

"They are focusing on normal instruction and extracurricular activities and anything that is typical of a high school," he said.

If the district fails to meet any of the terms of the agreement, the Office of Civil Rights can initiate administrative enforcement or legal proceedings.