Tacoma Public Schools agreed to pay $125,000 to resolve allegations it violated state law and discriminated against an Indigenous student prohibited from wearing tribal regalia during her high school graduation in 2024, a document shows.
The school district recently settled a lawsuit brought by Gracie Belle Ray, a member of the Central Council of the Tlingit and Haida Tribes of Alaska, who was barred from wearing a sacred button blanket to receive her diploma at Lincoln High School.
When The News Tribune reported in June that the case was resolved and dismissed, the school district declined to reveal the financial term of the settlement “out of respect for the (Ray) family.” An attorney representing Ray also declined…