A federal investigation found that the Northeastern Local School District failed to adequately investigate, effectively address and prevent recurrences of significant racial harassment of African-American students.

To settle the complaint filed with the U.S. Department of Justice, the district agreed to a settlement that involves more than 100 requirements designed to revise Northeastern’s policies over the next three years.

Several Northeastern officials declined to comment and directed questions to Superintendent Louis Kramer, who didn’t return multiple phone calls Tuesday.

“No student should endure the racial harassment that students in this district have experienced,” said Thomas E. Perez, assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division, in a statement.

Of the district’s approximately 3,700 students, less than 2 percent are African-American.

The settlement stems from a complaint filed about incidents of racial harassment directed at a junior at Kenton Ridge High School.

The student started receiving racially charged threats in November 2011, her family said in February. They couldn’t be reached for comment about the settlement Tuesday.

According to a Springfield News-Sun report in February, someone put a crude drawing of a person hanging from a noose in the student’s locker with the words, “Get Ready 2 Die,” followed by a racial slur. The student also received explicit threats in emails.

The harassment continued into 2012, when the student left the district out of fear for her safety, according to the Justice Department.

The federal investigation also concluded that other African-American students in the district had suffered racial harassment, as well as retaliation for reporting the harassment.

The district has agreed to undergo a systematic review and revision of its harassment policies to create a discrimination-free learning environment, as required by Title IV of the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964.

“I commend the Northeastern Local School District for working collaboratively with the department and for taking the steps necessary to serve all of its students in a safe environment free of discrimination and harassment,” Perez said in the statement.

The settlement required the district to retain the services of an equity consultant from the Great Lakes Equity Center, based out of Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, by Sept. 30 to review the district’s policies.

The Great Lakes Equity Center covers six states: Ohio, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. The center is currently working with two school districts in those states, Project Director Seena Skelton said.

“It’s essential that districts work with people of experience in engaging in policy review, particularly when it relates to harassment and bullying and around issues such as race and ethnicity,” Skelton said. “Our work is primarily around helping districts advance educational equity in their systems, and we take a systemic perspective … We help districts take a look at their policies in terms of some of the intended and unintended outcomes of policies as they’re written and policies as they’re practiced.”

The consultant’s report is due by Oct. 14, and the school district must submit specific policy and procedure revisions by Nov. 5.

By Sept. 30, the district was required to submit a name for an appointed or hired anti-harassment coordinator to conduct trainings and to monitor and react to complaints of racial discrimination or harassment, as well as a mental health consultant with a master’s or Ph.D. to assess current mental health policies.

Each school also must designate a person responsible for overseeing investigations at that school, which are now posted on the district’s website. All staff members that interact with students will be required to undergo annual racial harassment training.

According to the settlement, the school also had to install security cameras to cover all locations that students congregate outside of classrooms, and anonymous student and staff surveys will be administered in fall 2012, spring 2013 and annually after that to gauge the effect of racial harassment within the schools.

An anti-harassment task force and a peer leadership team will also be created to include students, parents and teachers in the process of eliminating harassment.

The settlement process will be complete after the district makes a report for the 2014-2015 school year evaluating the implementation and effectiveness of its new policies.