An Idaho family has sued a school district they allege has blatantly ignored multiple complaints regarding racism and discrimination that two sisters suffered at their local high school.
The Hodge family in the Boise suburb of Eagle, Idaho, sued the West Ada School District, the district superintendent, and Ada County for violating the constitutional rights of two Black students and “fostering and permitting a hostile educational environment at Eagle High School, which included racial harassment, bullying, and discrimination.”
The parents of two sisters identified in the lawsuit as Jaeyden and A.H. filed an amended lawsuit on Dec. 27 on behalf of their daughters.
The complaint alleges that both daughters endured rampant, toxic racist behavior from their peers since 2021 and that the teachers and faculty members exhibited “indifference” to the harmful conduct.
The suit states that both A.H. and Jaeyden were “subjected to racial slurs and humiliation from school staff and students,” and that their peers openly called both girls racial epithets in school hallways and classrooms without fear of discipline.
The complaint also alleges that school administrators were well aware of these incidents, yet “failed to investigate or remediate” them.
“These complaints were either ignored or met with perfunctory responses that failed to resolve the issues,” the complaint reads.
The suit also mentioned two teachers who engaged in behavior that made the girls targets for more bullying and harassment.
One teacher falsely accused A.H. of taking nude photos in a school restroom and broadcasted those accusations to an entire class of students, which subjected A.H. to verbal attacks and isolation by her peers, the Hodges claim.
The claim say another teacher also made “repeated and inappropriate use of racial slurs in his classroom,” which emboldened other students to engage in similar behavior.
The Hodge family repeatedly urged the school administration in 2021 and 2022 to enforce action to stop the harassment, according to the suit.
The family alleges that when A.H. and Jayden made their complaints known to a school resource officer, the officer told them to “just ignore it,” adding that the school year was almost over. That resource officer is contracted to work at the school through a partnership with the Ada County Sheriff’s Office.
The parents also requested Eagle High’s assistant principal and the West Ada district superintendent discipline the offending students and staff and establish anti-discrimination policies. However, neither leader took meaningful steps to address the family’s concerns, which allowed the harassment to persist, the complaint states.
“Both A.H. and Jaeyden suffered emotionally and educationally because of their experiences,” the lawsuit reads. “The Racial Hostilities were not isolated incidents but part of a systemic issue at Eagle High School, where reports of harassment by other minority students were similarly dismissed or ignored by school officials.”
An attorney for the family released a statement about the amended complaint that was filed days after the original suit to correct and remove specific allegations that A.H. received a message telling her to “kill yourself,” and that a teacher directed racial slurs at her.
“In terms of any factual changes, there were 2 allegations that were inaccurate or inconsistent with the facts as we know them, so we wanted to clarify those errors,” the attorney wrote to KTVB. “Specifically, the ‘kill yourself’ comment was not directed at the Plaintiffs and the teacher who used racial slurs in class did not direct any of those comments at Mr. Hodge’s children.”
The family’s attorney also said that two teachers and a vice principal were “listed in error,” so the amended complaint will remove them and direct all claims at the school district, the superintendent, and the county.
Months before the suit was filed, the Hodge family publicly spoke about the ordeal, calling it “degrading,” and saying they felt “defeated.”
“There isn’t a lot of people of color at our school,” Jaeyden told KTVB in August.
“I don’t think we’re the only ones who have ever experienced it. I think we’re the only ones who have really been able to speak up and are willing to speak up,” her sister said.
The city of Eagle, which is nestled just outside of Boise in west Idaho, has a predominately white population, comprising 85 percent of residents, according to 2022 Census data. That same data also reported that only 57 African-Americans lived in the city at that time.
The family seeks financial compensation for damages, including emotional distress and harm, as well as required “racial and gender-based harassment training” for all West Ada School District employees.
