'I let them work it out': Vile teacher allegedly tells mom when Black student told her skin stinks

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A 10-year-old Black girl with autism took her own life on Saturday after the child allegedly dealt with prolonged bullying by both students and teachers at a majority-white Utah school, her family told Deseret News. Isabella Faith Tichenor, who her family called “Izzy,” was bullied for being Black and autistic at Foxboro Elementary School in North Salt Lake, the child’s family attorney Tyler Ayres told the newspaper. Ayres said Isabella’s mother, Brittany Tichenor-Cox, reported the bullying “multiple times, and no action was taken.” He added that the child’s siblings have been called the N-word this year. “The offending student was not disciplined in any way,” Ayres said.

The family said in a statement that Isabella was an “easy target” at the school, a preschool through sixth-grade campus with some 824 students—only 2% of whom are Black, according to data from the Utah State Board of Education. Isabella’s family said she was especially a target “after a teacher joined in mocking” the child. “As any parent would, we reported this abuse to her teachers, the school administration, and the district administration. Nothing. Nothing was done to protect Izzy,” the family said. “Children did not have their behavior corrected, so the torment of this child continued day after day.”

Tichenor-Cox told The Salt Lake Tribune that, just after the school year started, she asked her daughter how school was going. Izzy told her she didn’t think her teacher liked her. “She doesn’t say ‘hi’ to me. She says ‘hi’ to all the other kids,” the mother recounted her daughter saying. When Tichenor-Cox called the school, she said she didn’t get a response. 

In the next incident, Izzy’s teacher told the class that some students smelled bad. Tichenor-Cox said Izzy’s classmates used that comment to target Izzy, threatening her on the playground and telling her she stunk because of the color of her skin. Tichenor-Cox cried as she recounted her daughter taking air freshener to school as perfume. She again called the school district, and eventually got to talk to the teacher who said: “I’m not going to work it out for them. I let them work it out.”

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The Davis School District said in a statement obtained by Deseret News that it is investigating bullying at the school. “We, like everyone, are devastated by the death of this child,” the district said.

”At this point, the incident we are aware of involved another student. The teacher and administration responded quickly and appropriately. As with all allegations of bullying, our investigation will continue.”

Foxboro Elementary School is part of the Davis School District, which was the subject of a federal probe revealing “serious and widespread racial harassment” by students and staff. The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) reviewed more than 200 incident files containing allegations of racial harassment and other discrimination, according to findings the DOJ released in September. “The Department’s investigation uncovered systemic failures in the District’s handling of complaints of racial student-on-student and staff-on-student harassment, discipline of Black students, and refusal to allow Black students to form student groups,” the DOJ wrote. 

The agency reported that the district was “deliberately indifferent to known racial harassment,” including white students repeatedly calling Black students the N-word. “We learned of incidents in which white students referred to Black students as dirty, asked why they did not wash their skin, and commented that their skin looked like feces,” the DOJ reported. “White students also called Asian-American students pejorative slurs, such as ‘yellow’ and ‘squinty’ and told them to ‘Go back to China.’”

Asian American students also account for 2% of the student population, while white students account for 70%. Hispanic students represent 17% of students.

The DOJ added in its report:

Read the full report below:

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It is unclear if Isabella’s family is planning a lawsuit against the school. “We are investigating the school’s lack of response but cannot say more about it at this time,” Ayres said.

Brittany Tichenor-Cox, sobbing through a news conference covered Monday by Deseret News, said that she and other family members would stand up for children who, like Izzy, have been bullied. “Even though my baby is gone, I’m going to make sure that I stand for Izzy and I’m going to make sure for voices that can’t be heard like hers, that this will never happen again to any kid that is her age, teenager or adult,” Tichenor-Cox said. “I don’t care who this is for. Nobody should have to go through that.”

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If you or someone else is in crisis, call the 24-hour national suicide prevention lifeline at 1-800-273-8255.