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Complaint says Melrose METCO student was a victim of repeated racist bullying

After years of alleged bullying, including being called the N-word and being attacked physically, the student left the district.

June 4, 2024

5 minutes to read

After years of allegedly enduring racial bullying, which included being called the N-word and physical altercations that led to his suspension, not the perpetrators, David Palacios, a Black seventh grader, left the Melrose School District.

On Monday, the Lawyers for Civil Rights filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights against the Melrose Public School District and Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School for failing to prevent a racially hostile school environment.

The complaint claims the school district violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act and requests that the Office of Civil Rights investigates the district to implement remedial and corrective measures to address “the widespread culture of racial bullying.”

“What makes this case so egregious … a Black child was called the N-word numerous times, and the school failed to take action, then, the verbal bullying escalated to physical violence,” said attorney Erika Richmond Walton of Lawyers for Civil Rights, representing the family.

Melrose has a history of racial bullying and inaction in the past, Walton said. The Office of Civil Rights investigated the school district before, putting in measures she says the district has failed to take seriously, making this case “very, very different and very egregious.”

According to the complaint, the Melrose School District is about 75% white, and Palacios’s school is about 5.5% Black.

Palacio was part of the Metropolitan Council for Educational Opportunity (METCO), which has enrolled tens of thousands of Boston students of color in predominantly white school districts to create opportunities for students in those districts to experience the advantages of learning and working in a racially and ethnically diverse setting, according to the METCO website and the complaint.

The complaint said Melrose currently receives 117 students from METCO between kindergarten and 5th grade.

“My son was driven out of Melrose Public Schools and the METCO program by the unwillingness of the administrators to take racism seriously,” said Nita Holder, Palacios’s mother, in a statement. “He was repeatedly called racial slurs, and the administration did nothing but blame and discipline him, and they should be held accountable. An investigation can’t take back the trauma David faced at a formative time in his life, but it can begin the process of ensuring Melrose is better for future Black students.”

According to a statement from John Macero, the interim superintendent, the Melrose Public Schools learned of the complaint on Monday.

“We look forward to cooperating with the Office of Civil Rights to provide more information about the steps that the District took to address these incidents described in this complaint,” Macero said in a statement. “We take any allegations of individual or systemic discrimination very seriously in Melrose Public Schools, and we are committed to fostering a safe and equitable educational environment for all.”

Alleged incidents that led to Palacios’s departure

Palacios and his mother, Holder, claim that the racial harassment began when he was in the sixth grade in 2021 and lasted through the seventh grade before he transferred to Boston Public Schools in 2024.

The first incident happened in April of Palacios’s sixth-grade year when a white classmate called him the N-word while he was sitting with classmates in the cafeteria during lunch, the complaint said. The assistant principal called Holder to inform her of the event but undertook no investigation, the complaint alleges.

During the following fall, Palacios was outside the library eating lunch when two white students, an eighth and a ninth grader, approached him, the complaint said. One of the students called him the N-word and proceeded to attack him physically.

Six teachers rushed in to restrain Palacios, while only one pulled the other students off him, the complaint alleges. The complaint said an administrator physically restrained Palacios, took him to the vice principal’s office, and punished him with a one-day suspension. At the same time, the school let off the other two students. Despite Palacios informing his teachers of the students using the N-word, the complaint says the school did no investigation.

In January of this year, Palacios was at home texting in a group chat with several students from his school when a white student called him the N-word. Two days later, the same student physically attacked Palacios near the school entrance, the complaint alleges. The school suspended Palacios following the attack after the school said he began the fight, based on an obstructed security video.

However, during the suspension hearing, Holder showed a classmate’s clear recording showing that the other student attacked Palacios first. The school dropped the suspension but failed to follow up on the racial slur and attack, the complaint alleges.

The long-term effects of racial bullying

“These types of incidents are devastating to students, as race-based bullying and harassment can have significant long-term social, emotional, and physical impacts on adolescents,” the complaint said. “These effects include lower grades, low engagement, and negative impacts on mental health, creating a greater risk for depression, suicidal ideation, and substance abuse.”

The inaction by the school district also affects the students committing racial bullying by allowing them to feel it’s OK to continue their behavior, Walton said.

“For the child experiencing, it causes trauma, which is further compounded in an environment when no one is taking it seriously,” said Walton.

The complaint also said that Palacios’s Individualized Education Plan team, made up of a therapist, psychologist, therapeutic mentor, and intensive care coordinator, told the school that the racism Palacios experienced impacted his emotions and behaviors significantly, ultimately affecting his grades.

Walton says that Palacios is thriving in the Boston Public School District but is still dealing with the residual trauma of what happened in Melrose.

“I hope as he continues to be exposed to positive environments that respect his culture and him as a person, he can begin to heal that trauma,” said Walton.

History of racism in Melrose

These incidents outlined in the complaint aren’t the first time Melrose violated the prohibition on discrimination.

In 2015, the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education found the Melrose School District violated Title VI. Findings showed that the district did not comply with its obligations regarding a racially hostile environment, the claim said. As a result, the Office of Civil Rights entered into a monitoring agreement with the district that expired in 2016.

“However, as David’s case confirms, this pattern of discrimination in (Melrose Public School District) persists to this day,” the complaint said.

Palacios’s alleged incidents in Melrose come after recent reports in Southwick, where similar racial bullying and harassment happened during alleged mock slave auctions.

The complaint also comes days after a mother reported that a student cut her 11-year-old daughter’s braids at the Winthrop Elementary School in Melrose, according to a CBS news report.

“We want a culture shift in this district,” said Walton. “We want them to do better. We want them to make racial bullying a priority.”