Marion ISD accused of racial discrimination

The Marion Independent School District and three former coaches face a civil rights lawsuit filed by an African American family that reported being targeted on campus by a noose and a racially charged note last winter.

The suit, brought in U.S. District Court in San Antonio, claims the three plaintiff siblings endured years of racial slurs and discriminatory acts before recently leaving the 1,265-student district in Guadalupe County.

“The district failed to protect the children from a racially pervasive hostile environment, and caused them to continuously be exposed to verbal, physical and psychological abuse at the hands of their white teachers, coaches, administrators and fellow students,” says the suit, filed earlier this month by attorney Chris Pittard.

It claims the district broke federal law and violated the protected constitutional rights of the plaintiffs, Kyana Fennell, 18, and her two younger sisters.

The suit accuses former athletic director Glenn Davis and former coaches Cynthia Manley and Ashley Smith of targeting Kyana Fennell, who graduated and is now in college, “with racially motivated comments and actions.”

Davis and Manley had not seen the pleadings, but “to my knowledge, there was no racial discrimination,” Davis said. “We certainly wouldn't allow anything like that to go on.”

Manley had no comment.

Smith couldn't be reached for comment.

Superintendent Mario Sotello said the district, which has only “a few” black students, hadn't received notice of the suit, which claims it failed to properly train and supervise employees and failed to prevent racial harassment.

The two younger plaintiffs withdrew from Marion schools after an incident last February in which their mother reported finding a noose and a note on her daughter's car parked at Marion High School.

Besides containing racial slurs, the suit says, the note read, in part, “Whites will always rule this town and this school!!!”

Marion police and the FBI began investigating, but six days after the incident the family requested that the inquiry be suspended, citing health issues.

Marion Police Chief Reed Crane on Monday said the case remains closed.