By the end of President Donald Trump’s first term, racist incidents in one Texas school district were already on the rise. Before he returned to office, there was some hope they would finally be investigated. Now, parents say those concerns are going unchecked.
According to a recent investigation by the Hechinger Report in collaboration with The Washington Post, families in the Lubbock-Cooper school district are sounding the alarm after a proposed visit from the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) was canceled and the agency’s local office was shut down.
The report details a pattern of harsh discipline against Black students, including accusations they and their families say are false, punishments handed down without due process, and an escalation in racial bullying and intimidation from peers. In multiple cases, two students—one an honor student and another with no prior disciplinary record—were accused of wrongdoing they both deny and sent to the county’s detention school. While there, one student was so fearful of authority figures that he repeatedly wet himself rather than challenge being denied access to a bathroom.
“They’re breaking people,” said Phyllis Gant, president of the local NAACP chapter. “It’s just open season on our students.”
Gant, a 68-year-old Lubbock native, said she has never seen racism in schools reach this level. She added that her chapter now receives frequent calls from parents seeking help for racial incidents they no longer bother reporting to the Department of Education, believing nothing will come of it.
Even white families say they’ve noticed the shift. And the data suggests it’s not confined just to Lubbock-Cooper. According to a recent Washington Post report, in 2025, the Department of Education under President Trump dismissed thousands of civil rights investigations. During the first six months, the OCR required schools to make changes or submit to federal monitoring in just 59 cases, down from 336 during the same period last year.
Over email with the outlets, Julie Hartman, press secretary for legal affairs at the Department of Education, said, “These complaints of racial bullying were filed in 2022 and 2023, meaning that the Biden Administration had more time to investigate this than the Trump Administration has even been in office. The Trump Administration’s OCR will continue vigorously enforcing the law to uphold all Americans’ civil rights.”
She reportedly failed to respond when asked whether the agency had opened any investigations into discrimination against Black students.
As community leaders continue to press for accountability, many families with the means are taking matters into their own hands—switching schools even if it means fewer resources or opportunities, or leaving the state altogether.
Gant said that while the surge in complaints is alarming, it is not surprising.
“The districts know OCR has been dismantled, so there’s no urgency to fix these issues,” she said. “It’s on the community, and it’s on the parents, to be factual, vocal, and not quit.”
