UPDATE: On September 17, 2024, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights dismissed this complaint. See the letter here.
On February 20, 2024, Parents Defending Education filed a complaint against Denver Public Schools (DPS) in Colorado with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The complaint claimed DPS was breaking Title VI, a law that bans race discrimination in programs that receive federal funds. It also claimed DPS was violating the Constitution’s Equal Protection Clause, which bars government bodies, including public schools, from treating people differently because of their race except in rare cases.
DPS required teachers and staff to take part in a pledge called “DPS Belief in and Commitment to Black Excellence.” The pledge says that “all educators need to understand the prevalence & deep harm whiteness brings to students.” It also promises “equity-based revisions” to the district’s core curriculum and tells teachers to “[w]ork to dismantle the system that allows certain students to excel, and others to perish.” DE argues that this pledge forces students and teachers to accept a divisive ideology in the classroom.
Read the full complaint and see its evidence below:
