A Black student who attended Twin Valley Middle High School in Whitingham said she was subjected to racially motivated bullying and harassment by peers, and that school administrators took no meaningful action to stop it.

The unidentified student's allegations were made public Tuesday, when the American Civil Liberties Union of Vermont filed a complaint on her behalf with the state Human Rights Commission.

The allegations bear some similarities to others made in schools across the state this fall. Students of color in Winooski, St. Albans and South Burlington have said they were victims of racial abuse and, in some cases, criticized the way officials handled these incidents.
The Twin Valley complaint alleges that the student, identified by her initials C.B., was a sophomore and the only Black student in the school during the 2020-2021 year when she was targeted repeatedly by classmates.

In December 2020, a student allegedly called C.B. the N-word in front of a teacher and other students. The teacher informed Principal Anna Roth of the incident, and Roth started an investigation.

But the probe "resulted in no actual or tangible action," the complaint says. The perpetrator was not punished, and C.B. was told that it was her responsibility not to talk to him.

The Burlington School Board is moving forward with plans for a new high school.

At a meeting Tuesday night, school commissioners agreed to pay $910,000 to three firms that submitted a joint bid to provide a conceptual design and cost estimate for a new high school and technical center on Institute Road. The work is an important step, as the district hopes to put a bond to pay for the project on the ballot in November 2022.

If voters approve a bond of an estimated $125 million, the district would owe the three firms — Freeman, French, Freeman; Colin Lindberg & Associates; and Drummey Rosane Anderson — an additional $5.7 million. That fee, which is based on a percentage of the bond, covers costs for "basic design services such as architectural, structural, [mechanical, electrical and plumbing], landscape and civil engineering," according to a memo from the district's real estate advisors.

Georgia Elementary & Middle School teacher Matthew Toof has been charged with sexual assault, stemming from allegations that he repeatedly raped and molested a former student over the course of more than five years, starting when she was 11 years old.
A criminal affidavit from the Franklin County Sheriff's Office details accusations of repeated abuse, which allegedly began in Toof's sixth-grade classroom in April 2016. Later that spring, teachers in the school became suspicious about the relationship between Toof and the girl after witnesses spotted them spending time together, holding hands and embracing.

Another student saw Toof touch the girl's bottom and told his mother, a teacher at the school, who reported the incident to a guidance counselor. Other students and staff members also reported concerns, and the guidance counselor contacted the Department for Children & Families in June 2016.


On November 18, 2016 — just five months later — a social studies and language arts teacher at the school filed another report with DCF. She reported hearing the school administration expressing concern about Toof's behavior toward the student, who was no longer in his class.

Staff had been advised "to keep an eye" on the girl and not allow her to visit Toof's classroom because there had been "a previous incident of concern about his behavior with this child," court documents say. Earlier that month, Toof had been observed holding hands and hugging the student, the teacher reported. Again, DCF declined to investigate further.

DCF did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment from Seven Days.

Champlain College has named educator Alex Hernandez, a dean at the University of Virginia, as its new president. Hernandez will start his position in Burlington on June 6.

Hernandez is dean of the UVA’s School of Continuing and Professional Studies and its vice provost of online learning, positions he has held since 2018. He earned an MBA and an MA in education from Stanford University and worked in the financial world before entering education with a job teaching math in Los Angeles, according to his biography.

At a meeting Tuesday night, Burlington Superintendent Tom Flanagan told school commissioners that new state guidance around airborne polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) doesn't significantly alter the district's plan to build a new high school and technical center.

"I still believe with the information that I have that that's the right decision for us," Flanagan said. "I understand it is a harder decision now after the new action levels ... but I think we are not in a significantly different place than we were five months ago as it relates to our need for a new building."


"One of my biggest concerns has been hurdles like the one we are facing now get in the way and delay the inevitable need for a new school building for Burlington High School and Burlington Technical Center," he added.

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