On October 4, 2024, Parents Defending Education filed a complaint against Kirkwood School District in Kirkwood, Missouri, with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The complaint claims the district is breaking Title VI, a law that bans race discrimination in programs that receive federal funds. It also claims the district is 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.
Kirkwood runs affinity groups that only students of certain races can join. At Nipher Middle School, the district told parents it was starting an affinity group for 7th graders “who identify as students of color.” The group meets during lunch, and students were excused from missed classwork to attend its first meeting. Kirkwood Middle School also offers “Affinity Group Tutoring.” And the district promotes a scholarship that only students of color can receive.
Students of other races are shut out of these groups, tutoring, and scholarship because of their race.
Defending Education urges the Department to investigate every claim in its complaint, fix the district’s illegal policies and practices, and order the right remedies.
Read the complaint and see its evidence below:
