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Brittany Tichenor-Cox, holds a photo of her daughter, Isabella "Izzy" Tichenor, during an interview Monday, Nov. 29, 2021, in Draper, Utah. Tichenor-Cox said her 10-year-old daughter died by suicide after she was harassed for being Black and autistic at school. She is speaking out about the school not doing enough to stop the bullying.

Rick Bowmer, Associated Press

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In this photo provided by Brittany Tichenor-Cox is her daughter, Isabella "Izzy" Tichenor, in May of 2020. The mother of a 10-year-old Utah girl who died by suicide after she says her daughter was harassed for being Black and autistic is speaking out about the school not doing enough to stop the bullying. Brittany Tichenor-Cox told the AP she doesn't trust the school district's outside investigation, relying instead on a separate inquiry her own attorney is doing about what happened.

Brittany Tichenor-Cox via AP

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FARMINGTON — The mother of a 10-year-old Black and autistic student who died by suicide last year after alleged bullying and neglect at Foxboro Elementary School has served a $14.5 million damages claim against the Davis School District.

A community furor erupted after the Nov. 6, 2021, death of Izzy Tichenor, and the district hired an outside law firm to investigate the death. The review concluded the fifth grader was harassed by Foxboro staff and students over her hygiene, but no evidence was found that she was bullied on the basis of race or disability.

Tyler Ayers, an attorney representing Brittany Tichenor-Cox, Izzy’s mother, said Wednesday that the filing of a claim is a required step under state law in advance of a civil lawsuit. He said the district, the school and various personnel were liable for allegedly being deliberately indifferent to Izzy’s security, mental health and bodily integrity.

The North Salt Lake girl’s case fits in with the state of the school district as documented in a U.S. Justice Department investigation that found extensive racism toward Black and Asian-American students, Ayres said. The investigation results came out just weeks before Izzy’s death. The district agreed to extensive steps to correct problems spotlighted in the investigation.

“Black and brown students, and in Izzy’s case, Black, brown, poor, a girl, with a learning disability, and homeless,” were subjected to more than 200 documented instances of racial mistreatment, neglect and other failings in the report, Ayres said.

Asked about the legal claim’s goal, Ayres said, “We hope that all the government benefits and services that are available to anyone else will be consistently made available to people in Izzy’s situation.”

The claim document said Izzy was deprived of a fair, free and appropriate education as guaranteed in Article X of the Utah Constitution. Further, her right to due process under the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was violated by the alleged failure to use programs and funding that ws available to improve her security, mental health and bodily integrity, the claim said.

Tichenor-Cox began reporting bullying to the school in September 2021, but substantive steps were not taken to protect Izzy, the claim asserted. The girl was subjected to racial taunts, physical violence, hygienic taunts, and rude comments about her clothing and hairstyles, the claim alleged.

The school failed to stand up to bullies, bullies instead were rewarded, and Izzy was left “alone in a school charged with protecting her and teaching her,” according to the claim.

An alleged bullying situation with a student referred to in the claim as “hoverboard boy” highlighted the claim’s chief arguments. The boy allegedly used the “n-word” in Izzy’s presence, an incident that Tichenor-Cox reported to the school. But in response, principal Chris Whitaker invited “hoverboard boy” to sit with her at breakfast, the claim alleged.

Izzy told her mother about the breakfast, and the child “interpreted the breakfast as a reward for (the boy) and not a punishment or deterrent,” the claim said.

The same boy spoke of bringing a gun to school and shooting people, but a school investigation found no substance to the reports, the claim said.

Students committing such acts should be subjected to suspension or expulsion, but the only consequence for the boy was that his hoverboard was taken away, the complaint alleged. Izzy, the claim said, “could easily recognize” that her parents’ pleas for help for the girl “were being systematically ignored.”

The claim asserted a wrongful death complaint, citing alleged failure by the district to adequately hire, train, retain and supervise personnel.

The district also allegedly violated the Education for Homeless Children or Youth Act by failing to provide programs funded under the act. School personnel were aware Izzy’s family lived out of a van, but all she got was a hygiene kit, according to the claim.

Efforts to contact Davis School District spokesperson Christopher Williams were not immediately successful.