LEXINGTON, Ky. _ Two Madison County sisters have filed a federal lawsuit against school district officials, the Madison Southern High School principal and four students claiming the sisters were systemically menaced and threatened due to their race.
The lawsuit was filed by a recent graduate of Madison Southern High School and her younger sister, who is still a junior at the school in the city of Berea.
The sisters suffered continued racist bullying and harassment from other students at the school, and school officials did not act to put an end to the attacks, the lawsuit alleges. The lawsuit was filed in state court in August before being moved into federal court this week.
The younger sister was the victim of a hate speech email from other students that used the N-word at least 300 times, the lawsuit said.
In social media messages that referred to the younger sister as a racial slur hundreds of times, the four students named as defendants also threatened harm against her, according to the lawsuit.
In May, Madison Southern High School issued a statement after four people were charged with harassing communications in connection with racist social media messages. And while the school did not release names or give details about the incident at the time, at least two of the four students named as defendants in the sisters' lawsuit are facing a charge of harassing communications, according to court records.
After the older sister and her father told the principal that the N-word was scratched in the girls' lavatory door, it was not removed for eight months, according to the lawsuit.
Students wore clothing bearing the Confederate flag even though it was against the student dress code and school administrators did nothing about it, the lawsuit said.
In one instance, one of the sisters talked to an administrator about another student who wore a Confederate flag hat on more than one occasion. The administrator said they could not help her, so she spoke to the student directly, according to the lawsuit.
The student agreed not to wear the hat again, and the next day wore a sweatshirt with a Confederate flag instead, according to the lawsuit. When the girl talked to a teacher about the situation, the teacher told her she was being "dramatic."
The failure of the Superintendent David Gilliam and Principal Brandon Watkins to take action in the various racist incidents "resulted in the condoning of a racially hostile environment at Madison Southern High School," according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit seeks an unspecified amount of damages on several fronts.
In a filed answer to the lawsuit's allegations, attorneys for Gilliam, Watkins and the Board of Education wrote that "these Defendants acted in good faith, without malice, and within the scope of their duties as a public entity. These Defendants, as a public entity, are not liable for the acts or omission to act while exercising reasonable due care in the execution of any law, public duty, or responsibility."
An answer had not yet been filed by the four students named in the lawsuit.
The sisters' mother referred questions to their attorney, Ed Dove, who did not immediately comment Thursday.
Madison County school officials did not immediately comment.
But after the May social media incident in which four people were charged, school administrators discussed on the school's Facebook page "a terrible and unacceptable incident that happened on social media this week."
"This incident includes behavior that does not and will not be representative of our school or community. As a school and a district, it simply will NOT be tolerated," the post said.
The post said school officials were working with the Berea Police Department on the incident.
"We have not and we will not turn a blind eye to any issue of discrimination that arises," the post said.
