A Utah school district will pay $2 million to the family of a bullied Black, autistic 10-year-old girl who died by suicide in 2021.
Key details: A Utah Legislature committee overseeing the settlement approved the amount on Tuesday, which will be given by the Davis School District to the family of Isabella “Izzy” Faith Tichenor, a former student of North Salt Lake’s Foxboro Elementary School.
What happened: Tichenor was reportedly found hanging in her closet on Nov. 6, 2021. Her death came amid investigations of the Davis School District due to the reported racial harassment of Black and Asian students.
According to past reports, Tichenor was constantly bullied by her classmates, who would call her the N-word and make fun of her for being autistic. She was also allegedly harassed by her classmates and her school’s staff members due to her hygiene.
The aftermath: Following her death, the girl’s mother, Brittany Tichenor-Cox, sued the school district for $14.5 million in damages.
Latest development: In a joint statement with the Tichernor-Cox family on Tuesday, the school district noted that it would continue to assess and expand its efforts to “better support every student who attends its schools” by implementing “trauma-informed counseling and other resources for its students.”
The Davis School District also publicly apologized on Tuesday and announced it would be paying an additional $200,000 settlement to three other Black students who claimed to have experienced daily discrimination in the district.
To remember what happened: Besides the settlement, the Davis School District also announced it would be placing a statue of Tichenor in the library of her former school. In a statement, attorney Tyler Ayres noted that the statue is “important to me and our community for two reasons.”
“One, we can never forget the injustice suffered by Izzy for being forgotten and ignored. And two, it’s our hope that the next African American child in this in this school, and in this state, will see someone who looks like them being celebrated in this state, in this statue of Izzy.”
If you or people you know are at risk of self-harm, the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline provides 24-hour support at 1-800-273-8255.
