A Black teacher has sued an Iowa school district for failing to discipline its students for their racist behavior.
Robert Bender claims in the federal lawsuit against the Ottumwa Community School District in Ottumwa, Iowa, that he was called the N-word on numerous occasions by students, and officials failed to intervene or punish them thoroughly.
Bender began working at Ottumwa High School in 2021 as a behavior instructor teacher as well as the basketball coach for the boys’ junior varsity team. Bender claims that he was first called the N-word in early September 2021 by a student. Lawsuit documents obtained by Atlanta Black Star show the coach alleges that several of his colleagues heard the racial slur but failed to discipline the student.
School principal Jerry Miller and assistant principal Dana Warnecke are also named as defendants in the lawsuit filed on June 15.
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Bender alleges that between late September 2021 and early October 2021, he was subjected to another student calling him the N-word multiple times, which was also witnessed by several of Bender’s colleagues. The incident was reported to Miller and Warnecke, and the student was suspended from school for a partial or full day, he claims.
However, over the next two months, Bender was called the N-word multiple times by students in front of other staff and students “on at least a weekly basis,” according to the complaint.
The basketball coach also received racist messages on sticky notes and reported that harassment to Miller and Warnecke, according to the lawsuit. In January 2022, Bender also notified the executive director of human resources and operations at the school, David Harper, and was told racism would not be tolerated at the school, which…
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