Montclair School ‘Turned Blind Eye’ To Racist Taunts, Family Says

MONTCLAIR, NJ — “You look like you jumped in a bucket of black paint.” This taunt was just one of many racial slurs that a Montclair middle school student has endured over the past two years after moving to town from West Orange, her family says.

Last week, the family of a 13-year-old student at Buzz Aldrin Middle School announced they have filed a tort claim against the Montclair Public School District, alleging that staff and officials “turned a blind eye” to dozens of incidents reported between September 2018 and June 2020.

The teen, who is African American, was bullied online and in person, her family claims. Among the verbal abuse were slurs such as “Blackie,” Tar Baby,” “Burnt Stick” and “Shadow.”

Sometimes, kids would gather around, stepping on her shoes and pushing her. Other times, bullies would examine her scalp and hair to see if she was wearing a wig, calling her “weave girl,” said her mother, Natalie Hackett.

At one point, the situation got so bad, Hackett pulled her child out of school and requested home instruction, which was never provided, she said.

“My daughter became depressed, sad, and despondent,” Hackett said. “The way she was treated, made her feel embarrassed to be herself.”

“It broke my heart,” Hackett said.

Now, Hackett is alleging that the district was negligent and failed to do proper investigations after her daughter became the subject of “bullying, harassment, abuse, retaliation, victimization, discrimination and assault.”

School officials said the district disciplines students who violate policies about bullying.

“There are age-appropriate consequences for students found to have violated our policies," district administrators told ABC7 NY.

“I assure you that Montclair Public Schools investigates all incidents or allegations of harassments, intimidation and bullying,” Superintendent Jonathan Ponds told News 12 New Jersey. “The safety and welfare of our students is of utmost importance.”

But Hackett argues that the district didn’t do nearly enough to protect her daughter from more than 30 bullies who tormented her for two years, most of whom were never punished.

“Rather than addressing the incidents with the students, the victim was only provided with inadequate, insufficient and sporadic adult supervision to escort her to classes,” Hackett’s attorneys stated. “The family alleges that incidents continued, even in the presence of the adult protection, and more frequently when there was no adult supervision or oversight, at all.”

The family filed a formal complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights about their allegations in August 2019. It’s still pending as of last week, their attorneys said.

• See related article: Black Students At Caldwell Prep School Demand Change – And Get It

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