Posted on December 12, 2024

Wisconsin Mom Mulls Lawsuit Alleging School District Is Pushing ‘Horrifying’ Race-Based Policy

Andrew Mark Miller, Fox News, December 10, 2024

A Wisconsin parent is mulling legal action over a situation where she alleges her son was passed over being given the extra learning attention he needed due to language on the school’s website that says it prioritizes additional help for students based on race.

Attorneys for the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty argue on behalf of their client Mrs. Colbey Decker that a “troubling” and “unlawful” policy in the Green Bay Area School District “explicitly prioritizes reading support resources based on race, thereby violating the U.S. Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964,” according to a letter obtained by Fox News Digital.

“Mrs. Decker’s child, who suffers from dyslexia, has received different (and less favorable) services because he is white,” the letter states. “If he was Black, Hispanic, or Native American, Mrs. Decker’s son would have been treated more favorably and received different services.”

Decker told Fox News Digital that her son had been receiving one-on-one reading services in another district and that she assumed he would continue receiving that when he moved into the current district in January 2024 but that he was waitlisted for that additional help.

Decker explained that she learned of the policy while looking at the school’s website.

I asked them point blank, does he receive less services or is he less of a priority because he’s White?” Decker said. “And even asking that question made me extremely uncomfortable because to think that someone isn’t getting the services they deserve because of the color of their skin is just horrifying. So the principal did respond to me, and much to my surprise, he was very excited to explain to me the work they do in these priority groups.”

The letter alleges, citing the school’s website, that the “district’s literacy policy establishes ‘priority groups’ race—namely, Black, Hispanic, and Native American students—and states that the school will conduct intentional work educating our focus students, prioritizing additional resources to First Nations, Black, and Hispanic students.”

“This policy is in effect and has been applied to Mrs. Decker’s son, according to multiple district employees.”

The language on the school website also states next to an asterisk at the bottom of the page that, “Priority performance goals are established based on data that shows us we are meeting the needs of some student groups better than others.”

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The letter to the district asks that the policy, known as the King Elementary School Success Plan, be rescinded in favor of a “colorblind approach” to resource allocation along with “immediate and adequate support” to Decker’s son “who has been unfairly excluded from the opportunity to receive necessary resources.”

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