The U.S. Department of Education is seeking to negotiate with Carroll ISD over civil rights complaints, lawyers for the families announced this week.
Thursday’s announcement follows a years-long investigation into alleged racism and harassment in the district going back to 2021.
One of the complainant’s attorneys, Allison Scharfstein with the Legal Defense Fund, said the Office for Civil Rights only initiates negotiations after validating complaints.
“Under OCR’s process, Carroll now has 90 days to negotiate a resolution agreement that will remedy its civil rights violations and ensure they don’t re-occur,” Scharfstein told KERA.
In an open letter to Carroll ISD, members of the two groups that filed the initial complaints urge the district to "enter into good-faith negotiations with OCR and agree to remedies to address and prevent discrimination and harassment within the District.”
KERA reached out to Carroll for a response but hasn’t yet heard back.
