Missouri attorney general is accused of racial bias for pinning a student fight on diversity program

By SUMMER BALLENTINE
Associated Press

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Days after Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey blamed an after-school fight on a school district’s diversity programming, a lawyer for the majority Black district in suburban St. Louis says the state’s chief attorney is showing racial bias. At issue is an assault that took place near Hazelwood East High School earlier this month that left one student hospitalized with a severe head injury. Bailey points to a disagreement between police and the district over inclusion training that caused school resource officers to pull out of the schools one year. Hazelwood School District’s lawyer says a school police officer could not have stopped the off-campus fight, which she says occurred after school hours. The lawyer also says the district hired 60 private security guards.