Student dies by suicide weeks after DOJ documents ‘widespread race-based harassment’ in school district

A mother whose 10-year-old autistic daughter died by suicide is blaming the Utah fifth-grader’s death on the bullying she endured at school and the apathetic response of its leadership. 

Brittany Tichenor discovered that her daughter, Izzy, had taken a can of air freshener to the Davis County school after the Black student’s teacher and some of her classmates said she smelled bad. When Tichenor contacted her daughter’s teacher, she was told the students should handle the problem themselves, according to The Washington Post. 

“I went to the district,” Tichenor said at a news conference demanding accountability for her daughter’s death, per the Post. “Nobody has said anything.”

The district, however, said that the teacher and the school’s administration responded “quickly and appropriately,” The Salt Lake Tribune reported.

“We, like everyone, are devastated by the death of this child,” the district reportedly said. “We take all incidents and reports of bullying seriously.”

Just two weeks ago, the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) Civil Rights Division released the findings of an investigation into the Davis School District, showing “widespread race-based harassment.”

Specifically, students had used the N-word in front of Black students, called them monkeys or apes and said their skin looked like feces. Asian students also endured harassment and bullying, DOJ said.

District officials knew of at least 212 times when Black students were called the N-word at 27 separate schools but were “deliberately indifferent to the racially hostile climate in many of its schools,” a letter from the Civil Rights Division added.

Tichenor said that all of her children have experienced racism at school. One of her other daughters was allegedly called the N-word recently, and her son was told that he smelled bad, the Post added.

“My kids shouldn’t have to suffer. I’m not going to have another suicidal child,” Tichenor said, according to the Post. “She was only 10 years old.”

The Hill has reached out to the Davis School District for comment.