A Colorado middle school principal’s effort to extricate himself from a civil rights lawsuit that alleges he shares responsibility for racial discrimination against Black and biracial students at his school was denied by a U.S. district judge.
Castle Rock Middle School Principal John Veit argued that he is entitled to qualified immunity as a government official against a legal claim that he “failed to prevent a conspiracy” among white students in the school to deprive Black students of equal protection and access to education under federal civil rights laws.
The 2023 lawsuit , brought by three families against Veit and the Douglas County School District, detailed horrific instances of harassment, racial slurs and threats against their children. They claimed a pervasive pattern of racism and bullying existed at the district’s schools and alleged that school and district staff were aware of the discrimination and harm students faced but did not take sufficient action to stop it.
The complaint recounted how Black and biracial students, including four plaintiffs (identified as J.G., N.G., C.M., and D.C.) at Douglas County High School and Castle Rock Middle School “were regularly called the N-word, threatened with violence like lynchings and shootings, subjected to various racial and ethnic cleansing jokes, repeatedly called monkey and similar degrading epithets, exposed to ridicule and other forms of harassment by their peers, and made by teachers to argue the benefits of Jim Crow laws.”
In his ruling last week, U.S. District Judge John Kane said a conspiracy as defined by federal law among the plaintiffs’ student peers was convincingly established by allegations in the complaint which “show a concerted effort by students to humiliate, terrorize, and alienate” Black and biracial students.
The judge highlighted some of their allegations, including:
“One female told four other students in front of C.M. that she hoped another Black student wouldn’t join the class because ‘we already have one n-gger in this class.’”
“One student called D.C. ‘monkey boy’ as other students laughed along.”
“Students asked J.G. whether he picked the cotton his shirt was spun from. Another student threw cotton balls at J.G., laughing at him.”
“Students took pictures of C.M. while he was using the restroom without his knowledge and circulated it widely on the internet.”
“At the end of Black History Month, a student approached J.G. and told him that his month was over, and he could go back to wherever he came from.”
The complaint also alleges that race-based harassment of three students took place through a Snapchat group of more than 100 students in which “racially offensive comments and threats of killings were commonplace” and that students often tagged Black students “so that they would be sure to see the vile messages.”
In one such message, Kane noted, “Two students spoke about eliminating African-Americans from the planet with one proclaiming that we should j[ust] remove Blacks from this planet” and bring back [the] Holocaust.”
The judge said that “without a doubt the complaint sufficiently alleges the existence of a … conspiracy and Mr. Veit’s knowledge of that conspiracy.”
He cited plaintiffs’ claims that a student forwarded Veit an email about the students’ racist conduct and that after receiving the email, “Mr. Veit acknowledged he knew students of color were experiencing such discrimination.”
“I find Mr. Veit’s motion [to dismiss] to be groundless and consequently deny it,” Kane wrote.
Attorney Iris Halpern, who represents the families, said that the decision by the court “should serve as a warning to other school officials across the country: If you know about systemic racist bullying and harassment, and having the power to stop it, fail to do so, then you are in violation of our federal civil rights laws and can be held individually accountable,” reported CPR News. “Turning a blind eye or burying your head in the sand is not going to cut it.”
“We are happy the judge ruled that everyone who played a major role in the horrific racist harassment my children suffered can be held accountable,” said Lacey Ganzy, mother of Jeramiah Ganzy [J.G in the lawsuit], who was 14 when he faced racism and bullying at Castle Rock Middle School. “We look forward to this case moving along and to our ultimate day in court.”
Ganzy said she pursued the court case last year after the school district seemed indifferent to the complaints of her son as well as of her daughter Nevaeh, who then attended Douglas County High School. Nevaeh testified in April 2023 at a school board meeting that she was regularly called racial slurs and was asked by a teacher to debate in favor of Jim Crow laws during class, the Douglas County News-Press reported .
The Ganzy family has since moved to another, “more diverse” school district. Two of the other student plaintiffs switched to online schooling last year but have since returned.
In the spring of 2023, the Douglas County School District was facing pressure to respond to the results of a school climate sur vey, which showed large gaps between student groups along racial lines, reported CPR News.
The survey showed 71 percent of white students felt they belonged at their school, while only 56 percent of Black students did. Fourteen percent of white students said they’d been bullied on school property during the past 12 months, while 24 percent of Black students did. And crucially, 41 percent of Black students were disciplined versus 16 percent of white students.
When school district superintendent Erin Kane was asked what type of training was happening to prevent racism from occurring and to alleviate systemic racism, she responded that the district was working on training in a multi-year implementation plan.
At a school board meeting in May 2023, Kane said, “I want to express again how very sorry I and all of the district are that we had family experience racial remarks made by another student. Racism in any form is unacceptable at DCSD and a direct policy violation,” adding that multiple students had been suspended.
Other officials said Castle Rock Middle School students had participated in harassment and bullying presentations and that district leaders were working with the school on other behavior strategies for next year.
Ganzy was not impressed.
“I want them to be taught about Black history,” she said. “I want them to have absolutely no tolerance for any sort of discrimination of any kind. I want teachers to be actively looking for this kind of discrimination and to know how to better deal with it.”
According to the complaint, filed in August 2023, each student made complaints about their mistreatment to teachers and school staff, but district staff either didn’t respond at all or didn’t take the reports seriously.
Only one student involved in the group chat was disciplined, and staff did not follow through on creating safety plans for students to return to in-person learning. The complaint also notes that the district hasn’t implemented anti-discrimination training for staff or students.
The lawsuit demands “an injunction ordering Defendants to cease and desist from engaging in unlawful practices that deprive themselves and other students of color from accessing equal educational opportunities” and a jury trial to determine economic, compensatory, and punitive damages.
This spring Ganzy and her teenage children advocated at the Colorado State Capitol for passage of a new law that seeks to prevent harassment and discrimination in Colorado schools by improving reporting systems and training staff, reported CBS News .
The bill, SB 23-296 , which passed in June, “actually is everything we’ve been advocating for,” said Ganzy. “It just makes sense. It just says, ‘Hey, if you do this there’s consequences for your actions, and there’s education behind it.’”
Ganzy said the bill provides the clear distinction between a hate crime and bullying that she’s been pushing for. Schools had until July to begin implementing training.
Douglas County School District said in a statement in June that while their anti-discrimination and harassment polices “largely track with requirements” in the new legislation, they are “reviewing board policies in light of the new law to further advance the safety and well-being of all students.”
Of the ongoing lawsuit, the district said, “DCSD disputes that administrators either facilitated or permitted harassment and discrimination of African-American students to continue at school or otherwise tolerated a racially hostile educational environment. Numerous reasonable responsive actions were taken within the extent of school administrator authority.”
Last week, Judge Kane ordered both parties in the case to call his office on Aug. 13 to set up a scheduled hearing.
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