Brentwood High School

In 2010, Giovanni Micheli and his parents sued Brentwood School District, where Micheli had been a student, alleging that he had been targeted on account of his race. According to the suit, Micheli, who is white, was bullied Hispanic and African-American students, who called him “cracker” and “white boy.” Lawyers for both sides gave opening arguments in the trial on Monday. The case was resolved on Tuesday, pursuant to a confidential settlement.

From the beginning of his freshman year, in 2007, to the fall of his sophomore year, Micheli “was subjected to racial remarks, taunts, epitaphs, episodes of spitting, and physical assaults inflicted by non-Caucasian students at the District,” his complaint alleged. He also “felt himself at risk due to his minority ethnicity, the absence of any network of social contact and the lack of any support from the school staff.”

As a result of this “racial harassment,” Micheli underwent two psychiatric evaluations in November 2008. Each concluded that he was suffering from anxiety and depression. Starting in November 2008, Micheli was homeschooled. He enrolled at St. John the Baptist, a private school in West Islip, for his junior and senior years. His parents, John and Michele Micheli estimated, according to court documents, that tuition for the two years cost approximately $20,000.

The complaint, filed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and the Americans with Disabilities Act, claimed $200,000,000 in damages, and accused the school district of “discriminatory behavior.” At one point, court documents say, Micheli’s parents requested that he be transferred to another school district. Officials told them: “If we were to do that for him, then we would have to do that for all the other white children who requested it.” (In its initial response to the complaint, the school district contested that Micheli actually qualified as a disabled person under the IDEA or ADA.)

The case went to trial in Brooklyn federal court on Monday. “Giovanni was a minority because he was Caucasian,” Wayne Schaefer, one of Micheli’s attorneys, said in his opening statement. “This case is about discrimination against a minority student...Our claim is that there was deliberate indifference because he was a Caucasian student complaining in a district where Caucasians are a minority.”

Lawyers for the school district, meanwhile, said that Micheli never provided teachers or administrators with adequate information about those bullying him. According to the New York Post, defense attorney Jack Shields said that at one point Micheli simply described those attacking him as black and skinny:

“Had the district rounded up all African-American students who were thin, we’d be here for another reason,” Shields told jurors.

The attorney said school brass did everything they could to help Micheli acclimate to his surroundings, including placing him in clubs. But the measures had little impact—and Micheli used a racial epithet during one confrontation with black students, Shields alleged.

Finally, staffers ordered that he leave campus as a safety precaution.

On Tuesday morning, however, the Micheli family and the school district agreed to a confidential settlement. “The family has asked me to respond to inquiries by stating that they are happy this matter is now behind them and they can move on with their lives,” Schaefer, their attorney, told Gawker. Attorneys for the school district have not responded to a request for comment.