MN District Must Pay Up After Ignoring Pleas Of Bullied 7th Grade Girl

ST. PAUL, MN — Pine City Public Schools has been ordered to pay a student $65,000 following an investigation that found at least 10 classmates repeatedly bullied and harassed a seventh-grade girl due to her race.

The Minnesota Department of Human Rights found that the district failed to "timely and appropriately stop the racial harassment," the department announced Thursday.

"Children deserve the opportunity to thrive, socially and academically, in school," said Human Rights Commissioner Rebecca Lucero in a statement.

"Today’s announcement serves as a reminder to schools across the state of their legal responsibilities under the Minnesota Human Rights Act to proactively prevent and stop harassment and discrimination."

Pine City Public Schools

MDHR’s investigation revealed that during the 2020-2021 school year, a seventh-grade girl was repeatedly intimidated, bullied, and harassed by more than ten students because of her race.

Despite the student and her parents consistently reporting the harassment to school officials, the district failed to resolve the issue.

As a result of the ongoing abuse and the district’s inaction, the seventh grader was significantly affected and missed several weeks of school, state officials said.

MDHR found that Pine City Public Schools violated the Minnesota Human Rights Act by failing to take timely and appropriate steps to stop the harassment or prevent it from continuing. The district also failed to follow its own harassment policy, which requires employees to notify the superintendent upon receiving a harassment report. Efforts to address the racial harassment were ineffective, as the bullying persisted.

As part of the settlement, Pine City Public Schools will pay the student $65,000 and must revise its policies and procedures to prevent future discrimination and harassment.

Although the harassment occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic, MDHR will oversee the district’s compliance with the settlement through the 2025-2026 school year.