A Camden County judge has approved a nearly $93,000 settlement between the Pennsauken Township school district and the family of a Black middle school student who alleged that a school staffer subjected him to racist taunts and told him she hoped he would one day be arrested. The agreement resolves a lawsuit accusing Howard M. Phifer Middle School and district officials of failing to stop the alleged harassment after the student and his mother reported it.
The settlement was first reported by TransparencyNJ.com, according to nj.com. Because the student is a minor, the payout required court sign-off, and the judge found the settlement fair and reasonable before entering a judgment for nearly $93,000 against the district.
What the Lawsuit Alleged
The lawsuit, filed in December 2024, alleged that the student was subjected to repeated bullying, harassment and intimidation beginning in March of that year. According to the nj.com report, the alleged conduct involved a non-teaching assistant who had worked for the district for less than a year at the time.
The complaint alleged that, during in-school suspension, the staff member told the student she hoped he would be arrested when he got older and would experience abuse. It also alleged that she used racist names while he was serving detention. The lawsuit attributed the alleged conduct to the student's race and said he experienced depression and emotional distress that required medical and psychiatric treatment, according to the complaint as described by nj.com.
Family Says Complaints Went Unheeded
The student and his mother reported the alleged conduct to teachers and administrators, but the lawsuit claimed school officials failed to adequately address their concerns. The suit accused Phifer Middle School, the district and the Pennsauken Township Board of Education of racial discrimination and harassment under New Jersey's Law Against Discrimination, along with negligence, negligent hiring and supervision, and infliction of emotional distress.
The district and other defendants admitted no wrongdoing in settling the claim, the outlet's report notes. Personnel records show the staff member's contract was not renewed and that she is no longer with the district. District officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment, according to the same account.
Where the Settlement Money Goes
The settlement figures require clarification. The judgment reportedly designates $27,958 for the student's attorneys, including $21,680 in fees and $3,277 in costs and expenses. But those listed fees and costs total $24,957, and $93,000 minus $27,958 equals $65,042, not the $65,041 net recovery stated in the judgment.
That money is to be deposited in the Camden County Surrogate's Intermingled Trust Fund for the student's benefit, and the funds generally cannot be withdrawn without another court order or until the student reaches adulthood.
What Pennsauken Lists for HIB Reports
Pennsauken Public Schools' official harassment, intimidation and bullying page identifies district Anti-Bullying Coordinator Michael McGovern and lists Phifer Middle School counselors as contacts for HIB-related matters, according to the district. The page provides contacts but does not, by itself, establish how officials handled the allegations in this lawsuit. A separate 2024 decision involving the Ramsey school district in Bergen County illustrates another type of racial HIB case: the New Jersey Commissioner of Education upheld a finding that a student committed HIB after telling an African-American classmate that she was Black and that “black is bad,” according to the New Jersey Commissioner of Education. That matter involved student conduct rather than alleged remarks by a school employee and ended in an administrative decision, not a settlement.
A Familiar Pattern in New Jersey Schools
The Pennsauken case echoes an earlier New Jersey settlement involving racial harassment of a young student. The Matawan-Aberdeen Regional School District in Monmouth County agreed to pay $25,000 in a lawsuit alleging a 10-year-old Puerto Rican boy was racially harassed by classmates during the 2017-2018 school year, according to NBC News. In that case, about $17,500 was set aside in a trust fund for the boy, a similar arrangement to the one now protecting the Pennsauken student's recovery.
