Missouri school district settles suit filed by Black woman

The Associated Press//January 28, 2021//

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A Black woman has won a $275,000 settlement after she sued the Lee’s Summit school district when the former superintendent, who is also Black, said he would not hire her as the district’s communications director because of her race.

Danielle Nixon said in her 2019 lawsuit that then-superintendent Dennis Carpenter told the district’s selection committee that he would “never hire an African American female for that key role” in the predominately white suburban Kansas City district.

A white woman was hired for the position. Nixon is now head of communications for the nearby Raytown school district, The Kansas City Star reported.

The Lee’s Summit district does not comment on litigation, said Katy Bergen, the district’s spokeswoman.

As part of the settlement, the district said it did not admit liability or wrongdoing.

Carpenter, the district’s first Black superintendent, resigned in July 2019 after a lengthy dispute with the then-all-white school board and many parents in the district over diversity training.