On the surface, Ithaca is an open-minded and progressive community. The city has been hailed as one of the country’s most enlightened towns, one of its smartest towns, one of its most secure small towns. But beneath this rosy exterior of textbooks and tree hugging, racism still exists, and it has been most painfully obvious in the Ithaca City School District.

Last week, a case that rightfully enraged the community was brought close to its end with a judge’s recommendation that the Ithaca City School District should pay Amelia Kearney and her daughter Epiphany $1 million for their pain and suffering.

Kearney, a 37-year-old Ithaca College student and single mother, is a woman who fought for what she believed was right, brought to light a serious issue that’s lurked in Ithaca’s shadows for far too long. Certainly, some may argue that $1 million is an excessive sum to pay as compensation — but it sends a clear message that these sort of racial strains will not be tolerated in our community.

This racial divide at Ithaca High School has existed for far longer than the two years it’s taken for Amelia Kearney’s case to finally be reconciled. At the high school, where students from working-class families, students whose parents are college professors and others who come from neighboring rural farms converge, the clashing demographics have long agitated racial tensions, and Epiphany Kearney is, sadly, just one of many victims of this struggle.

This week’s apology and recognition of the need for meaningful change by the Ithaca City School Board to Amelia and Epiphany is a step in the right direction toward unifying divides within the city. The college and its community should be proud to have Amelia as one of its students — there are few words that can aptly praise her strength and perseverance.

But after she graduates in May, Amelia will no longer remain in Ithaca. The ordeal at Ithaca High School has prompted the Kearneys to leave the city, which leaves us with a major defeat. It is a shame to be losing a family which has — hopefully — steered these long-lasting tensions toward their end.

It’s now time for Ithaca to take its reputation as a progressive place and set an example for other tension-riddled communities to follow.

Ithaca College itself could have taken greater measure to support Kearney’s cause more directly and with greater strength. Given that the institution claims to be committed to promoting diversity and ending racial tensions, it’s unfortunate that we heard no response from college administrators. Three years and one week ago, when racial epithets were found scrawled on dormitory walls and a student was victimized by racist remarks, President Peggy R. Williams stood in front of the campus and declared war on the racist perpetrators. But there has been no outcry for Epiphany, the daughter of an Ithaca College student. It seems the college’s commitment to promoting racial unity is rather selective. Might the reaction have been different if it was a professor’s daughter who had been the victim of repeated racism? Might it have been different if it was Amelia herself who was persecuted?

The Ithaca School Board should have responded and acted earlier, but their admission and apology is a step in the right direction, and they should now take this opportunity to be proactive and take concrete and lasting action before they are likely compelled to do so by the Division of Human Rights. Now is the time to act.