Investigation finds minority students at Colorado school district almost three times more likely to be disciplined for bullying than White students

CBS News

08-05-2025

Bullying can be a problem at any school. But in the Boulder Valley School District, a months-long investigation by CBS Colorado has discovered racial disparities in how schools discipline bullies.
The investigation began after some parents of students who attend schools in the district shared concerns.
At BVSD, CBS Colorado's investigation found minority students were almost three times more likely to be disciplined for bullying than White students.
Parent says child experienced "traumatic" bullying
When her daughter started coming home from school crying, Jamilla Richmond became a very vocal parent.
"The bullying that she was experiencing was really traumatic. And it wasn't just the children, it was also adults who were participating in that," Richmond said.
Richmond said it got so bad that last year she pulled her daughter out of fourth grade at Whittier International Elementary School.
"There was an incident in which my daughter was waiting in line for lunch and four kids cornered her up against the wall, and my daughter felt threatened, so she pushed one of the kids to get out of that situation. They sent her to the office by herself, as though she were the aggressor," Richmond said.
Richmond's daughter is Black, and she says those four other students were White.
"That creates an image of perhaps children, Black children, Latino, Indigenous, looking as though they are the instigators in situations when in actuality they're really just responding to aggression, harassment and discrimination," Richmond said.
Richmond and the school were previously involved in a discrimination lawsuit filed by a White family. However, this ended in a settlement with the school paying both Richmond and the other family.
Boulder Valley School District responds
CBS Colorado brought the state data to district superintendent Dr. Rob Anderson.
"Is this something you've been tracking?" Your Reporter Sarah Horbacewicz asked.
"We've been tracking this data for years and on a monthly basis our team comes together to look at trends, to decide if there are different practices that we need to be implementing, if there are different supports and resources. The analysis that you shared with me, I didn't see that until this morning," Anderson said.
But BVSD still admits who and how they discipline overall is something they're working on.
"Do you think your efforts have been successful so far?" Horbacewicz asked Anderson.
"I think that we've been successful in a few things," Anderson said. "Over the past five years, we have reduced suspensions of our Hispanic, Latino students by 51%."
"I think that we've reduced the amount of discipline. I don't know that the ... disproportionality has improved in the ways we would have hoped," he said.
All trends the district says they meet about monthly when discussing all disciplinary reports and assessing their policies.
Anderson says that racial disproportionality is also reflected in academic performance.
As part of the investigation, CBS News reviewed state data in other Colorado school districts. The data showed that the district has the largest gap between White and minority students compared to similarly sized districts. CBS Colorado asked Anderson for a response to that.
"Our data is more accurate, that we've created the systems and the trust within our community where folks will tell us when these things are happening, and they know that we'll follow through," Anderson said.
Anderson says their process for reporting bullying includes a form on the school district's website.
"I do think that there's continued training that needs to happen for all of us in the school district, not just for kids, but for teachers and for administrators as well," Anderson said.
But parents like Richmond are still unsure.
"I want to see the district actually do more than use its words," she said.
"For ... children to be engaging in bullying, arguing, whatever it is, that's a completely different scenario than adults compounding that and piling on and assuming who's the culprit, who's the victim," Richmond said.
Parents consider civil rights legal action
Around 50 parents, including many CBS Colorado met with, say they are now considering taking civil rights legal action against the district.
Not every incident of name-calling is reported to the state. The incidents in this data are largely those involving suspension or expulsion. Some of that responsibility comes down to the school district to collect and report their data.