The lawsuit alleges that Black students in the school district were subjected to race-based bullying and harassment including racial slurs and physical attacks. (Beverly Press/Park Labrea News file photo)

A federal civil rights lawsuit filed against the Beverly Hills Unified School District in August alleges years of widespread anti-Black racism, harassment and discrimination that the district failed to address and, in some cases, worsened. Nine Black families with children currently or previously enrolled in BHUSD schools, from elementary through high school, allege their children were subjected to anti-Black incidents ranging from racial slurs to physical abuse.

“The students and families named in this complaint have experienced a wide range of anti-Black harassment, including repeated use of the n-word, demands for ‘n-word passes,’ monkey sounds, racialized jokes about watermelon and fried chicken, statements praising slavery, forced proof of Black identity, physical assaults, online racial threats, racialized political harassment, false accusations, disability-based harassment, religious hostility and administrative minimization of racial harm,” the lawsuit states.

The lawsuit, filed by attorneys Rodney Diggs, Brandon Tanter and Tyrine S. Aman of Ivie McNeill Wyatt Purcell & Diggs, seeks damages for the plaintiffs under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, which prohibits race-based discrimination in public schools. The lawsuit also seeks a court order requiring BHUSD to “adopt and implement a comprehensive anti-Black racism prevention and response plan,” retain an independent civil rights monitor, revise its anti-discrimination policies, create a transparent racial harassment complaint process and provide anti-racism training to employees, among other institutional reforms.

Neither the plaintiffs’ attorneys nor a BHUSD representative responded to requests for comment by press time.

The lawsuit details dozens of alleged incidents of anti-Black racism dating back more than a decade, to at least 2015.

One of the incidents cited in the lawsuit was previously reviewed by the California Department of Education, which rejected BHUSD’s conclusion that the conduct did not constitute race-based bullying or create a racially hostile educational environment.

The administrative complaint to the school district regarding the incident was filed by Victoria Tate, whose daughter attended Beverly Vista Middle School during the 2024-25 school year. BHUSD’s investigation found that, in November 2024, a student pointed at Tate’s daughter and other Black students in a history class after another student asked what the slang term “YN” meant. The district determined that “YN” referred to a phrase incorporating the n-word and disciplined the student who pointed at the Black students, but concluded that the incident did not amount to race-based bullying or create a hostile educational environment.

The CDE disagreed. In an Oct. 23, 2025, decision, the department found that BHUSD’s legal conclusion was inconsistent with the law and that there was sufficient evidence to sustain the allegation of race-based bullying and the creation of a racially hostile environment. It concluded that pointing specifically at Black students while referencing the n-word was sufficiently severe to create a sense of intimidation and lack of safety.

Although BHUSD disciplined the student and facilitated an apology, the CDE found the district’s response inadequate because “the district did not specifically tie its response to the inappropriateness and unacceptability of targeting Black students with racially charged references to the ‘N… word’ in the classroom, regardless of their prevalence or use in popular culture, entertainment or the media.”

The department ordered BHUSD to provide training on responding to race-based peer harassment and bullying to Beverly Vista administrators and counseling staff, as well as the district employee responsible for handling complaints.

The federal lawsuit includes additional allegations involving Tate’s daughter. During the week of the November 2024 presidential election, the lawsuit alleges that students asked Tate’s daughter which candidate her parents supported and, when she declined to answer, told her, “Oh you voted for Kamala because you’re Black.” BHUSD’s investigation found insufficient evidence to support that allegation.

The lawsuit also alleges that Tate’s daughter was subjected to online racial harassment and cyberbullying by classmates, including messages falsely claiming that she had mental health problems, had been institutionalized and should kill herself because she is Black. Tate filed a police report regarding the online threats and racial harassment, according to the complaint.

Tate subsequently removed her daughter from BHUSD. Her daughter now attends a private school, and the family is seeking reimbursement for tuition and related costs as part of the lawsuit.

The lawsuit also alleges that a biracial Black student at Beverly Vista Middle School with autism was involuntarily transported to Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in November 2024 for a psychiatric evaluation after school officials became concerned about a document he had written on his school-issued Chromebook.

According to the complaint, the middle school student had experienced bullying at BHUSD for years, including disability-based harassment and at least one alleged racial slur incident, and wrote about his feelings in a Google document. Because the district monitors student computers, the document triggered a referral to school counselors. The lawsuit alleges that a school psychologist conducted a risk assessment that included questions the student’s parents later described as difficult for a student with autism to navigate. Police were called, and the student was transported by ambulance on an involuntary psychiatric hold.

The complaint further alleges that the student’s father arrived at the school before the ambulance left but was kept in a separate room, and that his mother arrived shortly afterward. The student was later cleared by the hospital and returned to school without restrictions.

The lawsuit contends that BHUSD failed to account for the student’s autism and other disabilities during the assessment and treated his distress as a disciplinary or psychiatric problem rather than responding to the bullying he had experienced. It also alleges that he was later subjected to additional disability-based and racial harassment by other students.

The lawsuit also details allegations involving plaintiff Bella Ivory’s eighth-grade son, who attended Beverly Vista Middle School and was repeatedly subjected to racial slurs and requests for “n-word passes,” according to the complaint. Ivory, a former teacher at Beverly Hills High School, previously sued BHUSD in April 2025, alleging anti-Black discrimination, harassment and retaliation by the district.

The new lawsuit alleges that near the end of the 2023-24 school year, another student offered Ivory’s son a large bag of candy in exchange for an “n-word pass,” which the complaint describes as permission for a non-Black person to use the slur. During the following school year, the same student allegedly repeatedly approached him and used or mouthed the n-word, including after the student asked him to stop.

In November 2024, the student was physically attacked by another student on campus, according to the complaint. Ivory subsequently removed him from the campus because of safety concerns and enrolled him in independent or online learning.

In January 2025, the student allegedly received harassing text messages from an unknown phone number containing racial and political language, including references to his Black identity and his family’s perceived political views. His mother filed a formal Uniform Complaint Procedures complaint with BHUSD later that month alleging discrimination, harassment, intimidation and bullying based on race and other protected characteristics.

According to the lawsuit, BHUSD’s June 2025 investigation acknowledged allegations involving the physical attack, the text messages, requests for “n-word passes” and repeated use of the n-word. The district investigator ultimately found the race and color harassment allegation “not substantiated,” although the report also stated that the complaint indicated a violation of district policy prohibiting discrimination and harassment.

Ivory later contacted the California Department of Education, alleging that BHUSD had failed to protect her son or remedy the environment. The CDE declined to consider the matter because the request was filed outside the department’s six-month deadline since the date of the incident.

The lawsuit includes numerous other allegations of racial harassment involving Black students across the district. Among them, the complaint alleges that a Black Muslim family was subjected to racial and religious profiling dating back to 2015, when five families allegedly met privately with BHUSD administrators and Beverly Hills police to discuss removing the family from the district. The lawsuit also alleges that one of the family’s daughters was physically assaulted by classmates in 2022 and that administrators minimized the incident, while both daughters were later subjected to repeated use of the n-word, monkey references and requests for “n-word passes.”

Other allegations include a Black student who was repeatedly subjected to the n-word and monkey sounds beginning in middle school; a biracial Black student who was pressured by classmates to prove her Black identity by saying the n-word and showing photographs of her Black grandfather; and a Black student who allegedly heard another student use the n-word on campus after previously being subjected to racially charged harassment and a threatening gun gesture.

While most of the alleged racial harassment described in the lawsuit was carried out by students, the complaint also accuses BHUSD employees and administrators of minimizing anti-Black incidents and, in some cases, engaging in conduct the plaintiffs characterize as discriminatory. The lawsuit alleges that a baseball coach falsely accused a Black student of stealing equipment while making no comparable accusation against non-Black students; that an assistant principal minimized the seriousness of an assault involving a Black Muslim student; and that the district advised Black students to “code-switch and quiet themselves” after an alleged racist complaint from a community member to police.

More generally, the plaintiffs contend that BHUSD repeatedly treated racial incidents as isolated events, failed to recognize broader patterns of anti-Black harassment and did not take sufficient steps to prevent recurrence. The complaint alleges that district officials had notice of the incidents through parent complaints, board testimony, emails, investigations and other reports, but failed to implement districtwide reforms.

The new lawsuit is the latest in a series of racism allegations involving BHUSD. In April 2025, Ivory and basketball coach Jarvis Turner sued the district, alleging anti-Black discrimination, harassment and retaliation. Their complaint alleged that Turner received racist emails and phone calls, while Ivory and Black students were subjected to racist harassment during a pro-Trump demonstration at Beverly Hills High School in November 2024. BHUSD said at the time that it had not found evidence of racism at the demonstration and was taking steps to address concerns involving racism and antisemitism. A trial date for Ivory and Turner’s lawsuit is scheduled for November 2027.

Former Assistant Superintendent of Student Services Laura Collins-Williams separately sued BHUSD in January 2024, alleging race, age and gender discrimination, retaliation and a hostile work environment. The parties reached a tentative settlement in May 2026, but the agreement was not finalized, and the case is now scheduled for trial on Oct. 12.

Parents have also repeatedly raised concerns about the treatment and recognition of minority students. In fall 2025, parents urged the school board to recognize Black History Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and other observances after the district adopted a resolution focused on antisemitism and Jewish American Heritage Month. The board later narrowly approved a broader resolution recognizing heritage months for Black, Hispanic, Asian American and Pacific Islander, Arab American, LGBTQ+, Native American and other communities. Board members Judy Manouchehri and Sigalie Sabag voted against the resolution.

The plaintiffs in the latest lawsuit contend that the incidents described reflect a districtwide failure rather than isolated cases.

“BHUSD knew of the problem, had authority and means to address it, and chose responses inadequate to stop the harassment or protect Black students,” the lawsuit states.