Ellington

HERNANDO, Miss. (AP) — A group that filed a civil-rights complaint against DeSoto County Schools last year says the school district is continuing to be discriminatory in its practices.

News outlets reported Wednesday that the DeSoto County Parents and Students for Justice group has filed a new letter with the U.S. Department of Education in support of the April 2015 federal lawsuit.

The letter says that African-American students and handicapped students continue to be disciplined in disproportionately high numbers.

In the letter, the group specifically make four requests, including that Education Department officials require the school system's staffers to complete anti-racism and implicit bias training.

The school system, Mississippi's largest with more than 33,000 students, has denied the lawsuit's charges. It says its policy is designed to provide student safety and is applied equally.