On July 13, 2022, the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights opened an investigation into this complaint. See the letter here.
On December 2, 2021, Parents Defending Education filed a complaint against the New York City Department of Education with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. The complaint claims the department is breaking Title VI, a law that bans race discrimination in programs that receive federal funds. It also claims the department 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.
The complaint centers on race-based affinity groups planned for the week of November 22, 2021, at Lower Manhattan Community School. As of December 8, 2021, DE has collected more information about these groups:
• June 17, 2020: minutes from a community board meeting where the school’s principal discussed the affinity groups.
• March 19, 2021: an invitation to an affinity group titled “Is it funny? Or is it racist?” that described participation as mandatory.
• May 29, 2021: an email from the principal asking students to finish a survey from the last affinity group so the school could “create a new mission statement on race.”
• November 15–19, 2021: an email to the school community announcing affinity groups where “7th and 8th graders will explore the question ‘How do our racial identities influence our experiences?’”
• November 16, 2021: an email asking students to choose their affinity group through an online form.
Barring students from activities because of their race violates federal law. Defending Education urges the Department to investigate every claim in its complaint, fix these illegal policies and practices, and order the right remedies.
Read the full complaint below:
