Two Black sisters who accused white classmates at Millbury Memorial Junior/Senior High School in central Massachusetts of racial slurs, bullying and threats have reached a settlement with the school district over their federal civil rights complaint, their attorneys and a school official said Monday . Millbury Public Schools will pay the family an undisclosed amount and must “overhaul its policies to address gaps that have allowed identity-based harassment to persist,” according to Lawyers for Civil Rights, a Boston-based legal advocacy group that represented the sisters and their mother in the complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights in September 2024. Millbury Public Schools Superintendent Greg Myers said in a statement that the settlement does not require “a wholesale overhaul” of policies and was reached “without any admission of wrongdoing by the district or any finding that the district violated the students’ civil rights.” Kamora (left) and Melody Dabney, shown in an undated family photo. (Photo: Trusha Vilvar via WGBH) Melody Dabney was 13 and in eighth grade, while her sister, Kamora Dabney, was 16 and in tenth grade during the 2023-24 school year. The sisters alleged that white students at Millbury Memorial, where 5% of students were Black and 72% were white, subjected them to months of persistent racial bullying and harassment. According to their September 2024 complaint, the harassment included repeated use of racial slurs, including the N-word, and calling the sisters “monkeys.” They also alleged that their white peers made physical threats against them. White classmates called Melody “Black as f—k,” “ugly,” and “too dark, ” and ridiculed her hair texture, facial features, and skin color throughout the school year. On social media, one student called her the N-word, threatened to beat her up, and told her to “go back” to her “motherland.” Black 7-Year-Old Allegedly Reported Abuse from Dad’s Fiancée Months Before Her Death, Now Lawsuit Says Autopsy Found Drugs in Her System Black Man Begged for Help As Virginia Cops Drove Past Hospital, Then Chatted and Checked Their Phone While He Died in Patrol Car, Lawsuit Claims Although the girls and their mother, Trusha Vilvar, repeatedly complained to school officials about the racist harassment, the school downplayed the severity of the incidents and their impact, at times blaming and punishing the girls instead, according to the complaint. After a white student threatened to beat Melody up on Snapchat in November 2023, Melody and her mother reported the incident to Junior High Assistant Principal Patrick Mara and the school resource officer. According to the complaint, school officials promised to investigate, but no meaningful disciplinary action followed. The student continued to direct racial epithets at Melody and threatened to harm her, prompting Melody to retreat to the school bathroom to cry. In December 2023, Kamora was studying in the school library when a white student allegedly approached and handed her a piece of paper with the words “Ni—er pass.” It was a joke among white students at the school that such a “pass” implied they were free to use the racial slur. Kamora took the paper and ripped it to pieces and threw them at the student. The school librarian wrote Kamora up for an infraction, describing her as “making a big scene in the library” while omitting the racial context of the incident. As a result, the racial harassment went unaddressed, according to the complaint. Her attorneys argued that school officials later used the infraction to suspend Kamora from school. After two students threatened her sister via Snapchat and school officials allegedly failed to address the threats, Kamora sought out one of the students she viewed as an aggressor. She approached the girl and asked her about the message. When the student “dismissed her, Kamora impulsively hit her,” according to the complaint. In response to the altercation, despite the other student suffering no injuries, school officials called the police and placed the school on lockdown. After a hearing in January 2024, when the library infraction resurfaced, Kamora received a 20-day out-of-school suspension. Her parents argued that the suspension was unusually lengthy and disproportionate to the offense. Meanwhile, the complaint said the school failed to punish the white student for her threats and racial harassment, allowing the “toxic racist climate” to “fester.” The family has since left the school district, according to their lawyers. Vilvar said in a statement on Monday that the settlement means her daughters’ voices were finally taken seriously. “This was never just about my daughters,” she said. “It was about standing up for every child in the district who has experienced racism, bullying, or discrimination and felt unheard, and making sure their voices matter, too.” School officials “failed to take meaningful action to root out racism or hold racist perpetrators accountable,” Lawyers for Civil Rights said in the statement. Mirian Albert, senior attorney at LCR, said the legal team hopes the settlement “helps ensure a safer and more supportive educational environment for all students in Millbury.” Myers, the school district superintendent, said: “The settlement in this case reflects the district’s decision to avoid the significant expense, uncertainty, and disruption associated with protracted litigation and was reached without any admission of wrongdoing by the district or any finding that the district violated the students’ civil rights.” Rather than requiring “a wholesale overhaul” of district policies, the agreement includes “a limited clarification to our existing grievance procedures regarding the use of progressive consequences and consideration of relevant factors when providing for those progressive consequences,” he said. “These clarifications were already a part of Millbury’s practices.” “Millbury Public Schools remains committed to maintaining a safe, respectful, and inclusive learning environment for all students,” the statement said. “We recognize that fostering a positive school culture requires ongoing attention, strong partnerships with families, and a shared commitment to treating every individual with dignity and respect.” Lawyers for Civil Rights said the settlement requires the district to revise its Civil Rights Grievance Procedures to provide greater protections to students facing racial bullying. Albert told WGBH that the federal Office for Civil Rights initially took up the Dabney sisters’ complaint under the Biden administration but took no further action. She attributed the lack of follow-up to actions by the Trump administration in 2025 to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education and close its Boston civil rights office. The nonprofit has brought discrimination claims against several Massachusetts school districts on behalf of minority students. Earlier this month, LCR filed a federal lawsuit against Nauset Regional School District on behalf of a Black student who took his own life after suffering racial harassment at school. ‘Go Back to Your Motherland’: School Forced to Pay Sisters After White Classmates Called Them ‘Monkeys,’ Used N-Word and Threatened to Beat Them Up ...read more read less