UPDATE: On July 8, 2021, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights dismissed this complaint. See the letter here.
On March 30, 2021, Parents Defending Education filed a complaint against Hopkins Public Schools in Hopkins, Minnesota, with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. DE claimed the district was breaking Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, a law that bans discrimination based on race, color, or national origin in programs that receive federal funds.
The complaint points to news reports of a presentation Superintendent Rhoda Mhiripiri-Reed gave to staff on August 24, 2020. She said, “Hopkins Public Schools can no longer be a place where scholars experience racism,” and asked educators to consider times they had “reinforced a racist policy.” These statements raise concerns that the district had taken federal funds while violating Title VI. When Princeton University’s president made similar claims in 2020, the Office for Civil Rights quickly opened an investigation.
Read the full complaint below:
