Family alleges racist abuse at Upland school

A family has filed a legal claim against Upland Unified School District, alleging that their three children were targeted with racist drawings and abuse by other students at their elementary school.

The claim comes a week after a series of racist incidents at Pepper Tree Elementary School sparked outrage from parents.

In the precursor to a lawsuit filed Monday, Rome and Maylana Douglas claim that their three children, who attend the elementary school, “suffered physical and irreparable emotional injuries,” despite administrators and officials being notified that the kids were being bullied.

The Douglases’ 12-yearold boys began attending Pepper Tree in August 2016, and their 9-year-old daughter began attending in August 2019.

Upland Unified School District officials declined to comment Tuesday but previously condemned the allegations in a YouTube video.

Upland school board President Sherman Garnett acknowledged in the video that “racially insensitive, unacceptable incidents” had occurred.

“We deeply regret the hurt this behavior has caused our students, families and our community,” he said. “I want to make it perfectly clear that we have a strict zero-tolerance policy on any type of hate speech, harassment, discriminatory practices, behaviors, racial slurs, and any reports of these actions will be investigated thoroughly and immediately.”

The Douglases are seeking damages in excess of $10,000.