According to the article, the school district has a current lawsuit against them for doing the same thing to two other black students in 2020.

The superintendent at the time said, “people want to call us racist, but we’re following the rules, the law of the land." Like, yes, that's one form of racism, setting up and using systems and institutions which disproportionally affect people based on membership of certain races or ethnic groups. I'm pretty sure he knows that but is just covering his ass.