Lorain Schools releases footage showing staff giving girl food from garbage (VIDEO)

LORAIN — Lorain Schools released video footage of an incident in which a Palm Elementary student was given food from the garbage in November. The district's Board of Education is facing a federal lawsuit from the 9-year-old girl's mother, Latasha Williams, alleging her child's civil rights were violated when two white staff members forced her Black daughter to eat food pulled out of the garbage Nov. 21. The video, released by the district Wednesday, shows the girl dumping her tray in the garbage bin and then former school paraprofessional Monika Sommers-Fridenstine and former Principal Debra Pustulka talking to her at the garbage can. There is no audio. Sommers-Fridenstine then pulls a prepacked item from the garbage and wipes it off before giving it back to the girl while Pustulka stands by, according to the footage. Both staff members were terminated Dec. 16 after the district's investigation into the incident that found Pustulka received Williams' complaint after her daughter told her what happened, but "failed to take appropriate action," according to a news release. "Any infringement upon the dignity and respect of our students will not be tolerated," CEO Jeff Graham said in a news release after the staff members' termination. "Our students deserve staff members who are able to make good decisions in all situations — and any staff member who is unable to deliver on that promise is unwelcome in our schools." An outside company blurred the children's faces in the video, according to a district news release. Williams' lawsuit alleges her daughter was targeted because of her race and is seeking compensatory damages and a trial by jury.