Latino Students Forced To Eat On Floor Get $500,000 Settlement
By Victor Landa, NewsTaco
Four and a half years after 15 Latino 5th grade students were forced to eat their lunch on the floor in a Camden, New Jersey elementary school the school board has agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a lawsuit brought by seven of those students.
It’s hard to believe that something like this happened in the 21st century, but here are the detaild:
The incident occurred in February of 2008 at Charles Sumner Elementary School. Theresa Brown was a substitute teacher that day in Jose Rivera’s bilingual education class. The Camden Courier Post picks up the story:
According to the suit, the punishment occurred after a student in Rivera’s bilingual class — overseen that day by a substitute teacher — tried to change a jug of water in a water cooler and caused a spill.
Brown then allegedly punished the class of about 15 Puerto Rican students by making them eat on the cafeteria floor, while other classes were seated at tables. Some students in Rivera’s class were absent on the day of the spill, but they also were subject to the continuing punishment, the lawsuit says.
The incident caused a rift between the city’s black and Latino communities. And that situation has yet to be addressed in the reporting of the settlement of the lawsuit. What is known is that the Camden Board of Education approved the settlement without admitting guilt.
It’s important to note that initially, according to an Associated Press report published in the Washington Post,
State education officials ruled that the punishment was improper, but was not racially motivated.
This is how the money was split and the aftermath unfolded:
- The students will get $280,000 ($31,428 each)
- Their lawyer, Alan H. Schorr, gets $220,00
- Rivera was fired after initially reporting the incident, he now workes in another district.
- Rivera was awarded $75,000
- $50,000 of Rivera’s award went to his lawyer, Alan H. Schorr.
- Theresa Brown is now Vice Principal at Camden High School.
