Officials in Warren Township School District are under fire following the filing of a civil rights lawsuit by the parents of a mixed-race student in the New Jersey town.
They claim their son was subjected to harassment, intimidation, and bullying by his second-grade teacher due to his racial background.
The New Jersey family further claims the student was retaliated against when the civil rights allegations were brought to officials’ attention.
The teacher allegedly sent the 7-year-old boy an Afro wig and white paint on July 9, 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, when students were still remote learning, according to the Daily Beast.
The family’s complaint reportedly says teachers had access to students’ addresses for the 2021-2022 school year. That school year began on Sept. 1, 2021.
Denise and Kevin Anderson, the boy’s parents, state in a racial harassment complaint filed on July 6 that Amazon’s customer service verified for them that the boy’s teacher, Christine Rzasa, sent the items, which they call an “act of intimidation.”
Still, the school board, district, and Jeff Heaney, the principal at Woodland School in Warren Township, did nothing to reprimand the educator. According to the lawsuit, while nothing was done to the teacher, their son was retaliated against and was forced to learn in a “hostile education environment.”
