Ouachita Parish schools under investigation, parent alleges racial harassment and bullying

The Ouachita Parish School System is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights following allegations of bullying and racial harassment against a Hispanic student at Good Hope Middle School.

Ouachita Parish parent Amber Levins said her son was set to start eighth grade at Good Hope Middle School in August, but due to numerous alleged attempts of bullying from other students and alleged failure from administration to intervene during the 2021-2022 school year, she is homeschooling her son.

Levins alleged in December of 2021, her son was punched in the face twice by another student who later threatened him and returned to school the following day with a knife. Levins said the bully was expelled twice but was allowed to return to school 45 days later, a decision she said she doesn't understand.

"The only thing that the school would tell me was that they couldn't discuss other students," Levins said. "So, there was no reason. They wouldn't give me a reason or explain it to me."

Other students also allegedly referred to Levins' son, who is of Hispanic descent, as an "illegal immigrant" and taunted him with the saying, "Go back to your own country." Levins also alleged that the school's administration and Ouachita Parish Superintendent Don Coker knew about every instance of bullying and racial harassment but failed to properly address the problem.

More:Monroe City School Board approves pay increase for substitute teachers, other substitute positions

Levins said she had multiple meetings with Good Hope Middle School Principal Tawainna Calhoun and later with Coker.

"We had a meeting with Mrs. Calhoun explaining to her that we weren't happy about the fact the kid was brought back to school and that my son was in a dangerous situation. They told my son the day before this was going to happen, that this kid was going to come back and there was nothing that they could do about it. We had a meeting with the superintendent the next day to talk to him about her [Calhoun] behavior because she was extremely rude. Mrs. Calhoun was there. He actually brought her into the meeting with us, which we were there to complain about her. She lied and lied and lied to him, and I told him I can give you direct quotes because I had recorded it in the meeting the day before. The superintendent had no interest in anything I had to say at all, so that pretty much ended the same way."

Following the initial meeting with Calhoun, who Levins said assured that her son was safe, her son was assaulted in the head causing him to fall to the ground and curl into a fetal position crying.

"A reported bully stood over him and said, 'You deserved that,'" Levins said. "The vice principal admitted on tape that he saw all this and that he didn't even help my son up. Nobody did. He got himself up and went to class because he doesn't trust the administration."

Levins alleged the school withheld documents reporting the incidents of bullying dating back to August 2021. Levins said when she originally met with Calhoun, the principal accused her of not reporting the bullying to administration.

"During the meeting, I asked her, 'Where's the investigation notes? Where's the official Louisiana Department of Education forms showing who was involved, who you investigated, what you investigated?,'" Levins said. "Of course they can't give me names, but they can give me the redacted papers. Well, they refused to give those to me and for a long time, I thought they didn't exist because of the way they were just kind of making it so that I couldn't have them. So the day I went on the news, suddenly those papers existed and they handed them over to me because I made them... their lawyer made them."

More:Louisiana elementary school stops daily student prayer after parent complaint

Levins said she attempted to press charges against the students who assaulted her son twice with the Ouachita Parish Sheriff's Office. The first time, Levin said she was told that the incident was a mutually consented fight. Levins said the school admitted to the incident being shown on videotape.

Levins also alleges the school mishandled her son's 504 education plans, which was an additional factor in pulling him from the school. Levins alleges the school counselor admitted to not knowing who her son was and the counselor is the school's 504 coordinator.

"If she doesn't know who he is, how is his 504 being implemented in the school," Levins said. "I pulled him because I told them I was not doing this anymore, I wasn't going to put in a dangerous situation, and they had put him in the Homebound Program, which is for students who can't be at school because they're sick or whatever is going on. It took them almost two months to implement that, so he was just without school for two months. They had to pull a teacher out of retirement for two months because he's gifted and they have to have a gifted teacher to do it, and they didn't have one. It was completely unorganized and when they got his records, it was actually all messed up. Some of his grades are missing now because they did a horrible job implementing that. He pretty much should not have passed the grade because of them but they passed him because they know they're in the wrong."

Jim Bradshaw, U.S. Department of Education spokesperson, confirmed there is an open investigation into the Ouachita Parish School System under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, but said the division does not comment on pending investigations.

Title VI of the Civil Rights Acts of 1964 prohibits discrimination of the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance.

Title II of the Americans with Disability Act of 1990 protects qualified individuals with disability from discrimination on the basis of disability in services, programs and activities provided by State and local governmental entities.

Ouachita Parish School System attorney Elmer G. Noah II declined to comment due to the pending investigation.

This article originally appeared on Monroe News-Star: Ouachita Parish schools under investigation by Office of Civil Rights