A lawsuit filed against the Los Angeles Unified School District on behalf of a young girl who alleged her teacher at a Brentwood middle school made racially charged remarks in class has been dropped.
Lawyers representing the plaintiff, identified only as Maggie B., filed court papers Nov. 9 in Los Angeles Superior Court asking that her case be dismissed. The documents did not state whether a settlement was reached or if the case was not being pursued for other reasons.
The dismissal request was “without prejudice,” meaning the case can be brought again later.
The girl, one of teacher Steven Carnine’s former students, is half black and half white. Her complaint was filed March 18 on the girl’s behalf by her father, identified as Shawn B. The suit alleged civil rights violations, negligence and intentional infliction of emotional distress.
Los Angeles Unified was sued along with Paul Revere Charter Middle School and Magnet Center as well as Carnine, who was temporarily suspended from teaching. All denied any wrongdoing and the district had a motion pending asking that the lawsuit should be thrown out because it infringed on Carnine’s right to speak freely during history lectures.
Carnine acknowledged in court papers that he spelled out the “N-word” during a history lecture. But he said he was referring to the polarizing term during a history lesson in January to underscore racial hatred that existed during the time of President Abraham Lincoln.
“I do not like using derogatory terms, but wanted this lesson to reflect the temper of the time of white southerners and drive home the concept of the racial animosity that helped spark the Civil War,” Steven Carnine stated in a sworn declaration.
Carnine says he did not intend to racially discriminate against the plaintiff.
“My discussion of white southerners opposed to President Lincoln during this class was not intended to racially discriminate against plaintiff,” Carnine says. “It is my job to teach students about the harsh realities encountered in learning about periods of ignorance and intolerance in our history and society.”
The lawsuit also alleged Carnine said that Michael Brown, the young black man fatally shot in August 2014 by a white police officer in Ferguson, Missouri, “got what he deserved.”
According to the lawsuit, on Jan. 16, the day after the birthday of slain civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., Carnine handed out a questionnaire that asked about racial stereotypes. During the ensuing discussion, Carnine brought up the shooting of Brown by former Ferguson police Officer Darren Wilson, the lawsuit states.
“In discussing the incident, Carnine said that the guy was a thug and he got what he deserved,” according to the suit, which alleges that the teacher also said, “Black people are judged for not being smart because they are not smart. A lot of them are just athletes.”
On Jan. 29, during a lecture on the Civil War, Carnine stated that “people didn’t like Lincoln because he was a (N-word) lover,” the complaint alleges. Carnine was “staring and smirking” at the plaintiff when he made the remark, according to the suit.
But according to Carnine, he did not disparage Brown.
“I did not say that Mr. Brown was a thug who got what he deserved,” Carnine says. “In fact, I told the class the exact opposite, that Mr. Brown did not deserve to be shot. I also expressed to the class how outrageous it was that Mr. Brown’s body laid in the streets of Ferguson for hours after his death.”
The plaintiff started attending Paul Revere School in 2013 as a seventh-grade student and selected the campus because of its racial and socioeconomic diversity, according to the lawsuit.
