Northern California school sued — 14-year-old alleges classmates used racist taunts

The mother of a 14-year-old Black junior high school student is suing her son’s Placerville school district, alleging the child was subjected to racist and homophobic taunts at the mostly white school and that officials did nothing to stop it.

The lawsuit was filed late Tuesday in Sacramento federal court against the Gold Trail Union School District and Boyd Holler, principal of Gold Trail School, where the abuse allegedly occurred.

The suit, filed by Sacramento attorney Kellan Patterson, identifies the youth as “J.K.” and describes him as “a Black student with Haitian roots” who was adopted by his parents.

“J.K. attends Gold Trail School, which consist of a student body population that is majority White,” the lawsuit says. “J.K. is often the only Black student in his classes.

“Unfortunately, J.K. has been the constant target of bullying amongst his peers at Gold Trail School. J.K. is bullied by his peers based on his race and perceived sexuality. Throughout his tenure at Gold Trail School, schoolmates have called him (a racial slur) in person and over text messages. They have also called him gay” in a derogatory manner.

Superintendent Carey Buchanan said in an email that she could not comment “because this is a personnel issue and involves potential litigation.”

“We take very seriously the safety, health and welfare of all our students and staff,” Buchanan added.

Holler did not respond Wednesday morning to phone messages and an email seeking comment on the lawsuit, which alleges violations of J.K.’s equal protection rights under the U.S. Constitution, and also accuses the district of negligent supervision of students and failure to protect a pupil.

The school district website includes an online form to report bullying and the district code of conduct states that “all students, parents, teachers and staff have the right to be safe, and feel safe, in their school community.”

“In addition, everyone in the school community has the right to be treated with dignity and respect,” the code states.

The school’s 2019 accountability report card says Gold Trail serves 389 students, with 83.3% white enrollment and 0.3% Black enrollment.

According to the lawsuit, J.K. attended Gold Trail as a seventh and eighth grader starting in 2018 and was frequently subjected to other students using the N-word “apparently to get a reaction out of him.”

“Students would ask (J.K.) if he knew what the word ... means,” the lawsuit says. “They would often laugh after J.K. shows signs of anger.”

The lawsuit says that on April 2, 2019, J.K.’s mother emailed Holler screenshots of racist and homophobic text messages J.K. had received from classmates but that the abuse continued into October of last year.

“On or about October 14, 2019, J.K.’s parents notice that J.K. was seeming down,” the suit says. “They noticed that he was not talking to his ‘friends’ like he often does.”

The next day, J.K. boarded a school bus after class to ride to the Boys and Girls Club and “noticed a girl was videotaping him while another student started asking about the meaning of the (racial slur) and what about the word is racist,” the lawsuit says. “A student also started to untie J.K.’s shoelace to further annoy him.

“J.K. became terribly upset and demanded the kids to stop. J.K. told the bus driver about the incident and messaged his teacher Ms. Garcia. That evening, J.K. was very withdrawn at home and did not want to communicate with anyone.”

The next day, on Oct. 16, 2019, J.K. got on the bus after school and the bus driver told him to sit behind her “because he had used foul language when he was demanding his bullies to stop harassing him” the day before, the lawsuit says.

J.K. got off the bus and called his mother, who came to the school and met with Holler to discuss the incident, the lawsuit says.

“Mr. Holler explained to J.K. that the (racist slur) began in the 1950s when people were being lynched,” the lawsuit says. “Holler further explained that there are three ways to take the (slur).

“(1) A friend calling you that as a buddy; (2) a friend who calls you that just to be an a------ and then asks for forgiveness and then you forgive and forget about it; and (3) it is used in a hateful manner.”

J.K.’s mother told her son that “under no circumstances do you let someone call you the N-word, the word is extremely offensive,” the lawsuit says, adding that his mother couldn’t believe “the statement that Mr. Holler had made.”

She filed a written claim with the district on Feb. 24, 2020, that was rejected on June 2, the lawsuit says.

This story was originally published December 2, 2020 at 11:53 AM.