SOUTHLAKE, Texas — Several parents and students are urging Carroll Independent School District in Southlake, Texas, to enter good-faith negotiations with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights, according to the NAACP Legal Defense Fund.

The Department of Education’s has released this statement: “The Office for Civil Rights does not comment on pending investigations. OCR’s list of open investigations, updated every weekly, is available here. To learn more about how OCR processes cases, please see the office’s case processing manual.”

Our team of journalists looked at the Department of Education’s open investigations and found one gender harassment, one sexual harassment and two racial harassment cases open.

Three years ago, students and their parents filed complaints detailing discrimination in regards to race, gender and sexual orientation. 

In 2018, a video surfaced of students chanting a racial slur. 

Antonio Ingram, assistant counsel for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, which is representing several families who filed complaints against the school district, said Southlake Carroll school officials will have 90 days to negotiate a resolution to the violations that were found to have taken place. 

“We have been working with these families and students for the past few years and advocating for the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights to really ensure all students can go to school without feeling discrimination,” Ingram said. 

His hope is for the students to be able to go to school without fear and with a feeling of inclusion. 

“That there is a community where people feel like they belong, and that includes people of color, people who have identities in the queer community,” Ingram said. "They all deserve to attend public schools and feel safe and not face harassment and discrimination.”

If there is no resolution after 90 days, the Department of Education could begin enforcement proceedings, including calling upon the Justice Department or withholding federal funds.

Ingram says his clients are concerned about the emotional and mental harms inflicted on students within the district. 

Cultural & Racial Equity for Every Dragon (CREED) and the Southlake Anti-Racism Coalition (SARC) submitted an open letter to the Carroll Independent School District, urging it to negotiate in good faith with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights (OCR) to remedy civil rights violations. 

According to the Legal Defense Fund, the OCR initiated negotiations after years-long investigations into four complaints. 

The Spectrum News 1 team reached out to the school district for a statement and has not received a response.