Missouri’s top lawyer has launched an investigation into diversity, equity and inclusion practices in the Hazelwood School District after a fight off school grounds this month left a student in critical condition.
In a letter sent to the district and riddled with errors, Attorney General Andrew Bailey said the investigation would focus on “how the school district’s DEI programs contributed to the incident,†which was captured on a viral video.
“The community deserves answers on how Hazelwood’s radical DEI programs resulted in such despicable safety failures that has resulted in a student fighting for her life,†Bailey said in a statement announcing the investigation. “There must be accountability.â€
It’s unclear exactly what role Bailey thinks DEI programs played in the brutal beating of Kaylee Gain, a sophomore at Hazelwood East High School. Neither the school district nor police has mentioned race as a factor in the fight, and they have not confirmed the race of Kaylee or her 15-year-old attacker.
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Video of the fight shows a girl who appears to be Black smashing the head of Kaylee, who appears to be white, into the pavement repeatedly during a large brawl. Kaylee suffered brain bleeding and swelling and remained unconscious this week.
The video spread quickly online, and some in right-wing social media circles immediately claimed that race must have been a factor.
The girl accused of assaulting Kaylee was arrested and charged in juvenile court. Many, including Bailey, have called for her to be charged as an adult, but that decision will ultimately be up to a juvenile court judge.
The letter marked the latest instance of Bailey jumping into the culture war fray that’s enveloped several suburban school boards in the ºüÀêÊÓƵ area since the pandemic. Late last month, Bailey sent four cease-and-desist letters to area school districts, levying claims of discrimination or illegal behavior that school officials have adamantly denied.
In a statement Friday, Hazelwood School District officials said they take “great pride†in the district’s commitment to DEI.
“Contrary to recent statements, HSD does not prioritize DEI initiatives at the expense of student safety,†the statement reads. “Rather, we believe that fostering an inclusive environment is essential to ensuring the well-being of every member of our school community.
DEI has become a political rallying cry among conservative politicians along with Critical Race Theory, a once-obscure academic concept on the pervasion of racism in society. DEI seeks to promote the fair treatment of underrepresented groups, whether that be race, disability, or any other aspect of a person that has subjected them to discrimination.
But GOP politicians and lawmakers have interpreted DEI has a mechanism for encouraging discrimination, and U.S. Republican officials have vowed to remove DEI from schools.
In both the letter to Hazelwood and the statement announcing the investigation, Bailey got several key facts wrong, including the time and date of the fight.
The fight happened about 15 minutes after Hazelwood schools released students on Friday, March 8, but Bailey claimed the fight happened “in the middle of the school day†on Monday, March 11.
Bailey also lamented that no school resource officers were on the scene, but the fight happened in a residential area about a quarter-mile from the school.
At the start of the 2021 school year, Hazelwood had no SROs in schools after the s to undergo 10 hours of diversity, equity and inclusion training. The three police departments that provided the district SROs — ºüÀêÊÓƵ County, Florissant and Hazelwood — did not agree to the training.
Bailey claimed SROs are still not present at the school. The district did not immediately confirm if that was true.
But the district does have a , which staffs licensed school safety officers and monitors at each of the district’s middle and high schools. There are 40 safety officers listed in the district’s staff directory.
Bailey also criticized Hazelwood School Board’s 2020 adoption of its “.†The statement committed the board to “speak firmly against any racism, discrimination and senseless violence against people†regardless of their identities or backgrounds.
The attorney general’s letter demanded several records from Hazelwood, including all “complaints or feedback†about the district’s DEI Action Plan.
The district’s DEI plan was part of a chorus of online scrutiny against the district in the weeks since Gain’s assault.
The social media account Libs of TikTok, a far-right social media handle with nearly 3 million followers on X, formerly known as Twitter, combed through the plan and criticized the district’s use of restorative practices. In a school context, the practices generally refer to alternative methods of discipline, used in part to rectify historically disproportionate uses of certain punishments on minority students.
The focus on Hazelwood’s commitment to DEI also seemed to have caught the attention of billionaire Bill Ackman, a fervent critic of DEI.
Ackman, an American hedge fund manager, donated $10,000 last week to a GoFundMe campaign created for Kaylee.
A representative of Ackman’s fund, Pershing Square Capital Management, which oversees $18 billion in assets, confirmed his donation but declined to comment on what motivated Ackman to donate.
In its statement, Hazelwood officials stood by the district’s “unwavering commitment†to promoting DEI within the district.
“These values are not negotiable, and we will continue to prioritize them in all aspects of our work as community leaders,†the statement reads.