The American Civil Liberties Union filed a federal lawsuit Wednesday against Eureka City Schools, alleging pervasive and systemic racism and sexism in the district.

The suit, which the ACLU filed in conjunction with the National Center for Youth Law, is being brought on behalf of four local teenagers against the district, Superintendent Fred Van Vleck, Eureka City School Board members and a host of other district administrators. The ACLU and the center also filed a complaint Wednesday with the United States Department of Education requesting it launch an investigation into the Loleta Union School District based on a host of allegations, including rampant racism toward Native American students and that Superintendent and Principal Sally Hadden has made racially insensitive statements to students, physically hit students and failed in her duties as a mandated reporter.

The lawsuit and complaint include dozens of specific allegations, including that administrators have turned a deaf ear to complaints of racial taunting and bullying, that minority students are disproportionately disciplined, that the districts fail to comply with federal laws protecting students with disabilities and that numerous employees of the districts made racially and sexually insensitive comments.

The lawsuit is seeking monetary damages for the plaintiffs and administrative remedies, including a monitoring program.

Michael Harris, a senior attorney with the National Center for Youth Law who spent months investigating both districts, said the situation amounts to a “culture of lawlessness” that almost encourages bullying.

”This culture has bred this belief among some students that they can target other students and nothing will happen to them, and they are pretty much right,” Harris said.

Eureka City Schools issued a statement Wednesday afternoon stating that, at this time, the district is not aware of evidence to support the lawsuit’s allegations.

”We do not tolerate harassment or discrimination, and we believe every student is entitled to a to a safe school environment free from discrimination, harassment, intimidation and bullying,” the statement reads. “As a district, we take the allegations seriously and we are actively investigating the charges to determine the facts.”

As of deadline Wednesday, Hadden had not responded to two phone messages and an email seeking comment for this story.

The four plaintiffs are referred to by pseudonyms in the lawsuit against Eureka City Schools, but include 15- and 13-year-old black female students, a 14-year-old black male student and a 16-year-old Native American student. Collectively, the plaintiffs attended Alice Birney Elementary, Zane Middle School, Winship Middle School, Eureka High School and the Eureka Community School Educational Resource Center.

”Plaintiffs have experienced years of intentional discrimination by district staff based on their race, sex and disability status,” the suit states. “Defendants have and continue to intentionally discriminate against plaintiffs by perpetuating a racially and sexually hostile environment in district schools, and by failing to provide students with disabilities equal and meaningful access to education.”

The lawsuit includes scores of incendiary allegations, including that the black plaintiffs have had racial slurs directed at them from scores of classmates, with one saying students have called him “n

–,” made monkey noises at him, spit on him, thrown food at him and physically assaulted him since grade school. Another student alleges she and her mother brought allegations of racial bullying to administrators on about 30 occasions but little if anything was done by school and district officials to curb the harassment.

The lawsuit also includes allegations of systemic racism, with anecdotes about inappropriate remarks from teachers, administrators and staff. One student alleges that one of her white teachers proclaimed in front of her class that “black people get bored easily”, and that a school monitor once told her, “Don’t give me your black attitude.”

The lawsuit also alleges Eureka City Schools’ curriculum is insensitive, pointing toward teachers’ practice of using films or books containing racial slurs without discussing “the offensiveness and the historical context of the terms.”

The Native American plaintiff alleges that the educational environment has also been hostile to Native Americans, their cultures and traditions. The student points to an instance at Eureka High School in the spring of 2013, when a history teacher asked students to raise their hands if they were Native Americans and then called upon a Yurok tribal member to explain to the class the Indian Island Massacre carried out on the Wiyot Tribe. Another teacher, according to the suit, asked students to make up different Native American tribes and then had them pretend to fight each other to “teach her students that this was how Native Americans traditionally resolved conflict between their communities.”

In the suit, the Native American plaintiff also alleges that the district repeatedly refused to excuse her absences to attend tribal cultural activities.

The lawsuit also alleges the district has suspended and disciplined minority students at disproportionate rates, and includes anecdotes about minority students being suspended for lashing out in the face of racial bullying while their tormentors went unpunished by the district. The district has also failed to adequately diagnose students with learning disabilities, the suit alleges, and consequently has not given them services to which they are entitled.

Sexism is also a problem in the district, the suit alleges, claiming district staff has witnessed, implicitly condoned and even participated in the “weekly traditions” of “titty-twisting Tuesdays” and “slap-ass Fridays,” during which female students have their nipples, breasts and buttocks grabbed, hit and groped on school grounds. The suit also contains allegations of teachers and staff making inappropriate comments to female students.

The complaint the two groups filed in conjunction with California Indian Legal Services against the Loleta school district also alleges school staff has acted inappropriately and created a culture of hostility.

In the complaint, the groups allege that school officials have made a host of remarks denigrating Native Americans, including Hadden’s allegedly grabbing a Native American student by the ear and saying, “See how red it gets?”; a staff member openly referring to Native American students as “goats” and “sheep” in a school board meeting; a district secretary saying the “kids are acting like a bunch of wild Indians”; and Hadden’s allegedly referring to a Native American student as “saltine” because he “looked white.”

The complaint also alleges that Hadden has hit students over the head with a clipboard hard enough to make a loud “crack” sound, and that she has kicked students in the buttocks.

Hadden, the complaint alleges, also has engaged in a pattern of discriminatory discipline, regularly sending Native American students home from school or expelling them for minor infractions. The superintendent and principal, the complaint alleges, has also denied students due process, and put up barriers to disability and special needs assessments. According to the complaint, Hadden has also punished students by sending them to “the hole,” a small, windowless room where they receive neither instruction nor oversight.

County Superintendent of Schools Garry Eagles said on Wednesday that he was shocked to learn of the lawsuit and its allegations.

”I have been county superintendent for 11 years, and with the county office here for 30, and I’ve never had a student, a parent or an advocacy group come to me with allegations like this concerning any of our schools,” he said. “So this came as a complete surprise.”

Eagles said neither the ACLU nor the National Center for Youth Law contacted him to discuss the allegations or their intent to file a lawsuit or a formal complaint.

Harris and ACLU managing attorney Jory Steele both said their investigation didn’t have time to look at all 32 of Humboldt County’s school districts, and instead focused on the two they felt the most egregious allegations were coming from.

”I’d be confident to say these aren’t the only two districts in the county with issues,” Steele said.

Thadeus Greenson can be reached at 441-0509 or tgreenson@times-standard.com. Follow him on Twitter @ThadeusGreenson.