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A Black Iowa teacher has been awarded $425,000 after a federal jury ruled in his favor in a lawsuit accusing his school district and two administrators of failing to respond properly to repeated racial harassment.
According to Iowa Capital Dispatch, Robert Bender sued the Ottumwa Community School District in 2023, alleging harassment, discrimination and retaliation.
Bender started working for the district in 2021 as a behavior instructor and junior varsity basketball coach before moving into other coaching and special education roles.
According to the lawsuit, students repeatedly called him the N-word beginning in September 2021. The harassment continued for months, including incidents in front of school employees and administrators. He also received notes containing racist messages.
“Unfortunately, the lack of discipline emboldened the students, and they continued to refer to Mr. Bender as a ‘n—–’ in front of staff and administration,” according to the lawsuit. It describes one student continuing to use the slur while Bender was supervising the student during a timeout.
The lawsuit alleges that a student used the slur against Bender at a bus stop in front of staff and parents and repeated it weeks later in front of principal Jerry Miller. The school did not remove the student from class or, to Bender’s knowledge, discipline them.
Meanwhile, other students received three-day suspensions for incidents including slamming a door and calling a teacher “fat man,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit also says Bender received racist messages on sticky notes and brought the incidents to Miller and Assistant Principal Dana Warnecke.
The administrators referred the matter to the district’s executive director of human resources, who told Bender the behavior was unacceptable and would not be allowed to continue.
The district denied wrongdoing in court filings.
After four days of testimony, jurors deliberated for five and a half hours before awarding Bender $425,000 in compensatory damages.
Jurors also awarded $100 in punitive damages against each administrator. A judge later vacated those awards, saying there was insufficient evidence Miller and Warnecke acted with malice or reckless indifference. The $425,000 judgment stands.
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