BEDFORD, Va. (AP) Officials with the Bedford County School district say they recently reached an agreement with the U.S. Department of Education after the agency opened an investigation into allegations of a racially hostile environment at one of its high schools. The News & Advance reports the investigation stemmed from a February incident in which students at Jefferson Forest High School in Bedford County photographed themselves with Confederate battle flags. Bedford County Public Schools said in a statement late Friday that the Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights opened the investigation earlier this year. The statement says the district believes it hasn’t violated any federal civil rights laws. But it says that instead of “devoting resources” to the investigation, it chose to enter an agreement with the Office for Civil Rights. The statement doesn’t give specifics about the agreement but says it will help the district “battle incidents of racial bias.”
