The family of 10-year-old Isabella "Izzy" Tichenor, a Black disabled fifth-grader who died by suicide last year after being bullied by her peers, has filed a $14 million lawsuit against her elementary school. The Tichenor family asserts that Foxboro Elementary School in North Salt Lake, Utah, broke state and federal laws that guarantee equal treatment and educational opportunities.
According to an investigative report by the Davis School District in Farmington, Utah, her abuse from other students and teachers because of her race and disabilities was ignored by Foxboro Elementary administration, as well as a stark lack of care and intervention in her education.
America's discriminatory systems in place have been engineered to fail Black and disabled people, and children are often the victims of these systemic failures in our society. We hope that Izzy's family can receive justice and peace amid this preventable tragedy.