The girls’ school is accusing Missouri’s attorney general of ‘racial bias’ for launching an investigation into whether DEI policies created the conditions that caused the fight and violated the white victim’s civil rights.
This comes as Missouri’s Republican attorney general, Andrew Bailey, is being accused of “racial bias” for claiming that “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” policies at the girls’ school created conditions that led to the fight. Mr. Bailey has launched an official state investigation into Hazelwood East High School.
A spokesperson for Kaylee’s family said on Saturday that their daughter, who suffered a traumatic brain injury, is out of intensive care and has started to speak again, in a limited fashion. She has trouble walking unassisted and has no memory of the fight.
A March 8 viral video shows Kaylee, who is white, fighting with Maurnice, 15, who is Black, mere steps from Hazelwood East High School, which is 97 percent Black. In the disturbing video, you can see Maurnice repeatedly bashing Kaylee’s head into the pavement as other fights broke out around the two teens. Maurnice left Kaylee lying on the ground convulsing.
“She has major brain bleeding and swelling and is in critical condition,” her family’s GoFundMe page read.The campaign has raised more than $400,000 for Kaylee.
It’s unclear exactly what precipitated the fight, but a school district spokesperson confirmed to KSDK that on March 7, the day before the fight, there was a different fight on school property that a uniformed guard had to break up. One student was suspended. While the school won’t identify who was suspended, Maurnice’s family is now claiming it was Kaylee. According to attorney Greg Smith, who is representing Maurnice and released her name to the public, Kaylee was suspended but came back to fight the following day.
Kaylee “was suspended from school for fighting someone else,” Mr. Smith told KSDK, also known as 5 On Your Side. “And despite that, found her way back towards the neighborhood around the high school the following day at dismissal time.”
Maurnice is currently in the custody of St. Louis Family Court and faces charges in a juvenile proceeding. Kaylee’s family is calling for her to be tried as an adult, as are Mr. Bailey, the attorney general, and Josh Hawley, Missouri’s Republican senator.
Mr. Smith also says that his client, Maurnice, is an honor roll student who is in the school’s choir, plays for the volleyball team and is proficient in multiple languages. In his mind, his client has been misrepresented by the media.
Maurnice’s mother told KSDK that her daughter wants to apologize to Kaylee and that, “I just feel for my daughter … She’s not a troublemaker, she’s not a bully.”
Conseulla DeClue said that, “My daughter said she blacked out during the fight. I didn’t know she was being bullied… I would have pulled her out of school.”
Maurnice “was not the aggressor,” she told KSDK. “This had manifested over a three-month period. My daughter was focused on her education, and I don’t know… maybe they thought she was a nerd.” She claims that police investigators have Instagram messages that included threats to Maurnice.
A Change.org petition, urging Rick Gaines, the chief juvenile officer of the 21st Judicial Circuit at St. Louis County, to show Maurnice “compassion”, has gathered more than 1,000 signatures.
For their part, Kaylee’s family says that Maurnice’s impressive resume, if anything, indicates she should have had the foresight to know smashing Kaylee’s head into the concrete would cause serious injury.
“If anything the accused reported level of intelligence suggest that she was fully capable of understanding that violence of this nature would lead to the devastating injuries that Kaylee has sustained and therefore provides a further reason why it is appropriate for her to be tried as an adult,” said a family spokesperson, according to Sinclair Broadcasting.
Kaylee’s family has also been circulating screen grabs of social media postings they claim are from Maurnice exulting in herself shortly after the attack. The family acknowledges that they can’t verify that the postings came from Maurnice.
So, where does Mr. Bailey, the attorney general, fit into all this? Since the video went viral, he’s made it clear that he thinks the unnamed assailant should be tried as an adult and the school’s “radical DEI programs” are to blame for the incident, in the first place.
Mr. Bailey recently told Fox News he would be investigating the Hazelwood School District and its DEI programs to determine whether the district violated Missouri’s Human Rights Act, which “guarantees every Missouri resident the right to be free from discrimination and the right to full enjoyment of places of public accommodation.”
“Hazelwood owes the parents of the district and the entire community an explanation as to what role these radical programs and safety failures played here,” Mr. Bailey’s staff said.
Mr. Bailey claims that police officers who were supposed to provide security at the school pulled out because they were ordered to undergo the school’s diversity training.
In response to Mr. Bailey’s investigation, an attorney for the Hazelwood School District communicated with Mr. Bailey to share the school district’s dissatisfaction with the attorney general’s claims.
“It is disappointing to have an attorney general that intentionally disrespects public school district administrators and elected officials by sending error-filled correspondence to intimidate and threaten their leadership. It is surprising that you are opening an investigation based on lies that you could have easily ascertained if you would have taken a few minutes to fact-check prior to sending your correspondence,” Cindy Reeds Ormsby reportedly wrote in an email to Bailey. “Your obvious racial bias against majority minority school districts is clear.”
Mr. Bailey’s responses during the email exchange showed no signs of backing down despite Ms. Ormsby demanding he “cease [his] investigation into the District.” Mr. Bailey went on to request that the school “follow Missouri law” and provide the records requested by Mr. Bailey as part of his investigation. Ms. Ormsby replied saying the district would do everything they could to provide the requested records by April 15.
