The school of Isabella “Izzy” Tichenor, a 10-year-old Black student who died by suicide in November, has been found to have done nothing about students bullying her prior.
As CNN writes, the new investigative report commissioned by the Davis School District concluded that students and teachers at Foxboro Elementary in Farmington, Utah told Tichenor she needed to bathe. Izzy told her parents she was bullied because of her race and autism. While the findings insist there was no “direct” evidence to indicate she the bullying was racist or ableist, the three-person team admitted there’s a possibility the bullying was motivated by such factors.
“When a student told Izzy she needed to wash her hair, this comment could have been borne out of racial animus, could have been an innocuous observation, or could have been a cloaked insult about poverty,” reads the report, which also claimed the school failed to protect Izzy from bullying while in attendance. Additionally, staff at Foxboro were found to show no “actual knowledge” of Davis School District’s definition of bullying, which led to an environment where such harassment “could go underreported, uninvestigated, and unaddressed.”
Prior to Izzy’s death, the Justice Department said that there’s a pattern of Black and Asian American students facing abuse or having their complaints ignored by staff. The Associated Press reports that the family’s attorney Tyler Ayres said Izzy was called the N-word by other students, and was mocked for being autistic. “We don’t take umbrage with the children,” said Ayres. “We take umbrage with the adults who chose not to do anything about it. The adults who were in charge there should have taken these kids aside.”
According to Davis School District spokesperson Shauna Lund, Foxboro Elementary “worked extensively with the family” and did respond to reports of bullying.
“We, like everyone, are devastated by the death of this child,” Lund said. “Our hearts go out to the family. Foxboro Elementary has worked extensively with the family and will continue to provide help to them and others impacted by this tragedy.”
In an interview with KUTV last week, Izzy’s mother Brittany said she wants to share her daughter’s story to stop other tragic losses of life. “That’s why I want to tell Izzy’s story, because I feel like if they tell Izzy’s story to these kids, maybe they can have a change of heart and like, ‘Well, I don’t want to do that no more,’” she said. “It was multiple kids. It was not just one. It was a bunch of kids. So, I need parents to talk to their kids, whether they’re the bullies, whether they’re kind and compassionate. Keep talking, please. Because no mother should be sitting where I’m at right now or going to their kid’s grave.”
