On May 12, 2021, Parents Defending Education filed a complaint against Wellesley Public Schools in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights. DE claims the district is 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. 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.
In March 2021, the district invited students to a “Healing Space for Asian and Asian American Students and others in the BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) community who wish to process recent events.” The invitation said: “*Note: This is a safe space for our Asian/Asian-American and Students of Color, *not* for students who identify only as White.” Afterward, Superintendent Dr. David Lussier and other administrators sent a message titled “WPS Message on Affinity Spaces.” It said the district had “come to unequivocally affirm the importance of ‘affinity space,’ where members of historically-marginalized groups can come together.” DE argues that this constitutes racial discrimination.
Defending Education urges the Department to investigate every claim in its complaint, fix Wellesley Public Schools’ illegal policies and practices, and order the right remedies.
Read the full complaint below.
