BY JEFF CHUDZINSKI

North Country This Week 

HEUVELTON – A settlement conference is expected in March between the Heuvelton School District and Amy Chisholm, the mother of a biracial student who was allegedly subjected to racial slurs while at school. 

Attorney Ed Narrow, who is representing Chisolm, said the conference will be held in front of an administrative judge. Narrow said he hopes the situation can be resolved out of court with the conference but acknowledges that may not happen. 

“The burden of establishing the case falls to us, there is no doubt about that,” Narrow said. 

“But we feel with the evidence available to us that we have a strong case and we hope to have some sort of resolution from the settlement conference next month.” 

If the conference is not successful, Narrow said the next step would be an evidentiary hearing during which both sides could present witnesses for cross examination along with exhibits to be submitted as evidence. 

That hearing would be in front of a single judge who would then decide whether or not the case moves forward, Narrow said. 

Andy Silver of Silver and Collins, located in Canton and Potsdam, is representing the Heuvelton School District. 

Multiple calls to Silver and Collins were not returned immediately. 

The case revolves around a racially motivated incident that led to the  circulation of a photo in which students used their bodies to form letters to spell a racial slur.

Amy Chisholm, a parent of two daughters who attend Heuvelton Central, first posted the message to her Facebook on Feb. 8, prompting the school to investigate the matter. 

In the photo, three students can be seen laying on the ground to spell out a racial slur. The students form a letter in each photo, which were put together to spell the slur in a text message.

In her post, Chisholm said, “Here is what my girls deal with for Black History Month at Heuvelton School! This shit stops TODAY! You parents should be proud.”

Chisholm posted an hour later, urging parents to speak up and reach out to the school to complain about the message in circulation.

After reviewing a lengthy complaint containing allegations of racism within the district, the New York State Division of Human Rights determined there was probable cause that the district engaged in unlawful discriminatory practices.

North Country This Week obtained court documents on Dec. 9, 2022 that outlined the various incidents Chisholm’s daughter experienced.

According to the documents, in 2020 through 2021 in which her daughter, Mikaylah Chisholm, a seventh grade student, was called “n—-r” and a “b—h” on multiple occasions.

Chisholm claims the incidents were brought to the school’s attention but no visible punishment was administered and the offending students were treated with impunity.

The determination states the board of education and administrators listed, including Superintendent Jesse Colburn, Principal Shannan Jordan and teacher Joshua McAllister, deny the allegations, claiming only one incident during the 2020-21 school year related to the use of the “n word.”

Another incident from Nov. 2021 detailed in the determination alleges another student approached Chisholm’s daughter and asked her if she wanted to join the “KNK.”

“When Ms. Chisholm asked what the letters KNK meant, the student stated the "Kill N—-- Klub." According to Ms. Chisholm, and her mother, nothing was done despite the incident being reported to the school,” documents state.

District officials countered that Principal Jordan investigated the situation but said it was “unfounded” after students who were interviewed gave conflicting and inconsistent information.

Some of the students claimed that “Kill N—--s Klub” was never stated and that KNK stood for “Kidnap Neighbors Klub.”

Chisholm also alleges a video depicted Jordan, Colburn and six students dancing to a rap song that included derogatory language, including “b—h” and “n—-r”, as well as the phrase “suck on a d–k now the b—h need a Tic Tac.”

District officials acknowledged in documents the video existed but said students and staff were unaware of the lyrical content, which was unintelligible and secondary to the music itself.

Documents state Coburn reported the incident to the board of education in writing after discovering the lyrics the next morning. Coburn allegedly told the student who recorded the video to remove it from social media, which she did, documents state.