By Doug Miller

A rural New York school district has been fined $1.25 million by a federal court for failing to quickly put a stop to continual racial harassment directed against one of its high school students.

The verdict, based on what the jury saw as a violation of Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act, came in U.S. District Court in White Plains, where the fine was levied against the Pine Plains School District in Dutchess County. The million-dollar-plus damages were awarded to 21-year-old Anthony Zeno, a mixed-race student who attended Stissing Mountain Senior High School from 2005-2008.

Zeno’s attorney, Stephen Bergstein of the Chester, N.Y., firm of Bergstein & Ullrich, said his client, the dark-skinned son of a Latino father and a white mother, was subjected to unrelenting racial slurs and racially motivated threats during the entire extent of his high school years. According to Bergstein, the tormenting began almost immediately after Zeno and his family moved to Pine Plains – a small town about 65 miles north of New York City – from Long Island in 2005.

“They called him nigger, using the ‘n’ word all over the place,” Bergstein said. There were violent confrontations, he contended, “and even a death threat in the bathroom.” In one instance a student reportedly brought a noose to school.

Bergstein said the Zeno family appealed repeatedly to district officials to put a stop to the constant harassment, but the response was “too little, too late.” District authorities were reluctant to speak with the media about the decision, but Bergstein said court papers noted that at one point school officials tried to address the harassment by bringing in a diversity trainer. Even then the slurs and bullying continued.

“They reacted,” Bergstein contended, “but way too slowly. They didn’t act with any sense of urgency.” School officials attempted to deal with offending students, he added, but failed to revise their strategy when it became apparent that the harassment wasn’t stopping.

“The jury found that the school district was deliberately indifferent,” Bergstein told reporters. “They were astounded at the level of racial discrimination that was going on in that school.”

The Pine Plains Central School District Board of Education released a general statement saying that, “Given our deeply held commitment to and advocacy for social justice, we are stunned by the jury’s verdict. There is zero tolerance for racial or any other form of bullying or harassment in our school community.”

Asked if he thought the district would appeal, Bergstein said “I’m sure they will.” The damage amount was considerable, he noted, and it sends a message to other districts. The district has 28 days from the date of the verdict to file appeal papers with the trial judge. If the judge does not concede, the district will have to move to a federal appeals court. Bergstein said that, to his knowledge, there have not been very many cases of deliberate indifference to racial discrimination or harassment by a district as a whole.

Zeno, the plaintiff in the case, graduated from Stissing High and currently is attending technical school. Bergstein added that his client is considering a career as a police officer.

Doug Miller is a writer who lives near New York City.