Ouachita Parish School Board Under DOE Investigation

Another school year is well underway, as thousands of children go to one of the places where they want to should feel safe. Friendships are reacquainted, expectations are high, classrooms are being kept covid-free as much as they can, leaving the academics to school faculty and students into a year that will bring more cherish memories. That will happen for most of the returning students, but not all of them, because some of those students will face bullying and other types of harassments from other students that continues to be a problem. But, a Ouachita Parish woman who has a child enrolled in one of the parish’s schools said that the school that her son used to attend, didn’t do enough to protect her child from bullying. And now because of several incidents where she alleges that her child was a victim of bullying, the Ouachita Parish School Board is under investigation by the U.S. Department of Education(DOE) Office of Civil Rights Division as a result of those allegations. The mother said that her son was allegedly “bullied on numerous occasions”, but nothing was done by administrators at his school. The woman said that in Dec. of 2021, her son was “punched” in the face twice, threatened by another student, who later returned to school the next day allegedly with a knife. The student was said to have been allegedly expelled twice, but came back to school 45 days later, which the mother said that she didn’t understand. Since it was a “school matter” that happened on campus, the mother said that she wasn’t told much, as it was “an internal matter” and wouldn’t “discuss” other students. The alleged bullied student is of Hispanic descent and was allegedly called “an illegal immigrant”, with alleged taunts “go back home”. Sounds familiar? The mother also alleges that OPSB President Don Corker “knew” of the alleged bullying and racial incidents, but didn’t address the problem as well as he should. The mother said that she had a meeting with the school’s principal along with Corker, but it was not productive. Despite being told that her son “was safe” at the school, her son was again allegedly attacked. Her son was crying in a fetal position, even as the vice principal allegedly saw the incident, according to the mother, as the school allegedly held documents of bullying dating all the way back to Aug. 2021. It was only after talking to the media, did the school board respond to the mother by giving her what she asked. The mother said that she didn’t get any relief from the Ouachita Parish Sheriff’s Office, saying that the fight between the students was a “mutually consented one”. A fight that the mother said her son didn’t start that the vice principal perhaps could have attested. The mother said that she has had other issues with OPSB because her son is “gifted” and that he missed some time from being in school. But the mother is hopeful that with the Department of Education stepping in, the school board will answer questions that she couldn’t get answers. Jim Bradshaw, spokesman for U.S. D.O.E., only said that there is “an open investigation” into OPSB under Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act and Title 11(2) of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. Title V1 refers to discrimination of the basis of race, color or national origin, while Title 11 of the Americans with Disabilities Act protects qualified individuals from discrimination on the basis of disability.