Parent and Blue Springs School District settle discrimination case
A lawsuit alleging racial discrimination by a former Blue Springs South High School basketball coach has been settled.
A spokeswoman for the Blue Springs School District, following a Missouri Sunshine Law request submitted by The Star, confirmed that the district had agreed to pay $75,000 to a plaintiff who alleged his daughter was the subject of racial discrimination and harassment.
The school district declined to comment further.
The plaintiff, Fred Lane of Blue Springs, could not be reached for comment. The Independence law firm that represented him, Humphrey, Farrington & McClain, declined to comment.
The lawsuit, filed in 2012, alleged that the former coach had produced a video that superimposed the face of an orangutan over the face of Lane’s daughter, an African-American member of a Blue Springs South basketball team.
The former coach told The Star that race had not been the motivation behind the video. She said she had received an emailed party invitation using the online application Monk-e-Mail, and a group of players, including the plaintiff’s daughter, had asked the coach to use their photos in the application.
The settlement was reached in August, and voluntary dismissal of the case was filed Thursday in Jackson County Circuit Court.
To reach Brian Burnes, call 816-234-4120 or send email to bburnes@kcstar.com.
This story was originally published September 26, 2014 at 3:47 PM.