Mamaroneck School District Settles Racial Intolerance Lawsuit

MAMARONECK, NY — The Mamaroneck Union Free School District said it has settled a racial harassment lawsuit filed more than two years ago by a former student, according to school officials.

In a letter to students and families, Superintendent Robert Shaps and President Ariana Cohen did not disclose the amount of the confidential financial settlement, but said the payout would be covered by the district's insurer. The agreement still needs final approval from the judge.

School officials said the deal includes an agreement that the school system will immediately review its harassment policies and take steps to address racial harassment concerns districtwide. Administrators said this process is already underway, even before the settlement is in effect.

"The obvious need to simply be better has resulted in systemic change notable for how district leaders and other employees address issues of intolerance or insensitivity," the district's top officials wrote on Friday. "These intensive efforts, under way for the past several years, have informed our individual and collective awareness, our conversations, our programs, and our practices."

A lawsuit filed in May of 2020 against the school district claimed that a brother and sister experienced frequent racial harassment. The family of the teens said, even though the harassment was reported several times, the district, the school board and the administrators did nothing to stop it. The lawsuit contended the the two Black students were deprived of their right to an education because of the indifference of the school district, school board and other officials, according to the complaint.

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• Students Sue Mamaroneck Schools For Civil Rights Violations
• Mamaroneck Must Enroll Student from Guatemala, State Says

Besides the district and school board, Superintendent Robert Shaps, then high school Principal Elizabeth Clain, who retired in June, and high school Assistant Principal Mario Washington were also named as defendants.

After being taunted since fifth grade by racial slurs and sexualized comments by classmates, the teenage student at the center of the lawsuit dreaded going to school, according to the complaint, and became depressed, considered harming himself and began to withdraw.

The children and their mother reported the racial harassment "regularly, in writing, to the children's teachers, guidance counselors, assistant principals, principals, and, at the end, the superintendent," the complaint said.

As a result, the teen faced retaliation from his peers for telling school administrators of the racial discrimination he suffered. His sister also experienced racial insensitivity from her classmates, according to the complaint.

Lawyers for the family included in the lawsuit past investigations by state and federal agencies of claims of racial discrimination, including a 2018 incident where a black middle-school student was called a racial slur by a classmate and was asked to read a definition of the word on a phone.

In 2016, the state Education Department investigated a complaint about the district refusing to enroll a student who had previously lived in Guatemala.

In 2012, the school district was investigated and found that Central Elementary School's assignment of students to kindergarten classes produced a "racially disproportionate impact."

The 2020 lawsuit claimed that the children were deprived of benefits that come from learning in a school setting with teachers and peers and will "forever be scarred by the racism they experienced."

School officials said that while they are glad to begin to close a dark chapter in the school's history, it is the next chapters that should now be the focus.

"We are eager to continue to share this information with our community, as it represents meaningful evolutionary steps in the culture of our schools," district leaders wrote. "By no means, however, should this be deemed self-congratulatory. The hurt experienced is deeply regrettable. Your Board of Education, the Superintendent of Schools and leadership team also believe it is time for our schools to define themselves beyond the well-understood grievances of the past. We believe it is time for us to begin to celebrate that self-directed change is happening, that it will continue, and that it will benefit all of Mamaroneck’s students and our broader community."

Patch's Michael Woyton contributed to this report.