HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — The family of Nigel Shelby, a 15-year-old student at Huntsville High School, who died by suicide in 2019, have reached a settlement with Huntsville City Schools after the family filed a lawsuit in 2021.
The family says Nigel was bullied for his race and sexuality while at school.
During a Huntsville City Schools Board of Education meeting Tuesday the board agreed to both monetary and non-monetary terms, where the district will pay the Shelby family $840,000 as well as expand and bring awareness to their anti-bullying procedures.
Nigel died by suicide on April 18, 2019 after his parents say he was bullied for his race and sexuality.
In a 2019 press conference Camika Shelby, Nigel's mother, said they weren't alerted of him being bullied until after it was too late.
"He had been in the office several times about being bullied, when they contacted me about it, he was already gone," Camika Shelby said.
In that same presser, the family's civil rights attorney Ben Crump, shared they were requesting public disclosures from the school,
"Get to the truth of how people knew about this suicide note and failed to act," Crump said.
In 2021, the family filed a lawsuit against Huntsville High School, Huntsville City Schools and the City of Huntsville based on Title IX and Title VI violations.
The lawyers said Nigel Shelby was discriminated against by both students and staff.
Another on the family's civil rights lawyers, Jasmine Rand, said, "one girl that we know of that battered him, students were calling him derogatory names or calling him racial slurs, were calling him slurs based on his sexuality."
Now, as of March 28, 2023, the Board of Education for HCS has reached both an $840,000 settlement along with an agreement to update the district's anti-bullying policies and procedures.
They emphasize that the agreement does not reflect any admission of liability by the district or any of its employees.
School Board Member Ryan Renaud says, "moving forward, I think it's a process of rigorous implementation and a plan of strategic implementation and working with our staff and administration to make sure that that implementation is consistent across the district."
This update also includes:
- Continuing to offer high quality professional development for staff
- Continuing to implement ongoing suicide prevention efforts for students
- Expanding its current climate surveys for students
- Strengthening its tracking of complaints of bullying in schools
"When we look at this tragedy and the outcome, it's important to remember Nigel Shelby for the beacon of light that he was in this community," Renaud said.
According to a press release from publicjustic.net, Camika Shelby says in response to the settlement, "there is no amount of money in the world that could ever replace Nigel…you can't put a price on a child. This lawsuit was about bringing change."