Latest news with #Deemar
Chicago Tribune
06-05-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Trump Department of Education investigating Evanston-Skokie D65 for alleged racial discrimination
The U.S. Department of Education announced it is investigating a complaint of racial discrimination at Evanston/Skokie School District 65 filed by a Georgia-based conservative legal nonprofit organization on behalf of a white elementary teacher. The nonprofit, called the Southeastern Legal Foundation, filed the complaint on behalf of Stacy Deemar, a teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in District 65, to the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights on April 24. Deemar previously filed a complaint to the Office of Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education in 2019, and in 2021 filed a federal lawsuit against her employer, according to Southeastern Legal Foundation Executive Director Kimberly Hermann. The lawsuit was dismissed in 2024 during the Biden administration. The complaint states that the district has 'engaged in unconscionable race-based discrimination in stark violation of the constitutional requirement of colorblindness and in violation of Title VI' of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the bases of race, color, and national origin in education programs and activities receiving federal funding. 'The District has instituted racial segregation for its staff. It has funded and encouraged racially-segregated student groups, and it continues to do so today. It relentlessly reinforces harmful and hateful racial stereotypes that ascribe characteristics to entire racial groups. This is unlawful under equal protection, Title VI, and its accompanying regulations,' the complaint states. The complaint says that the district's use of educational matter based on social justice advocacy created a racially-charged environment for its students. A district-wide Black Lives Matter at School Week of Action took place between 2018 and 2022 before those lessons were incorporated into the students' curriculum, according to the complaint. 'Among the many goals of the District's BLM week was to ensure that students as young as four years old 'understand that our country has a racist history that is grounded in white privilege' and that they need to 'be an activist and be actively anti-racist,'' the complaint states. District 65's Communication Manager Hannah Dillow said the district received notice of the complaint on May 1. In a statement over email, Dillow said, 'We are a diverse school district committed to equity and to ensuring that every child gets what they need and deserve to reach their full potential. It remains our responsibility to meet every child where they are and to ensure continued growth.' 'The District will continue to fulfill the intent and promise of equal protection and nondiscrimination embodied in the Constitution and our nation's civil rights laws. The complaint misrepresents our District's lawful and important professional learning and student-focused initiatives that are designed to advance the work of ensuring that ALL students have access and opportunity to a robust, high quality education.' 'The District will fully comply with the OCR investigation to help ensure a just and expeditious resolution.' In a phone interview with Pioneer Press, Hermann, of the legal foundation, said the new complaint to the Civil Rights Office incorporates a previous complaint made by Deemar in 2019. The Office of Civil Rights determined that the district violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act during President Donald Trump's first term in office, but subsequently dismissed the determination after President Joe Biden was inaugurated to office. 'There's a very long history of racial discrimination in District 65. A continued emphasis on race and segregating, and separating students, teachers and parents by race, which violates the civil rights laws in this country and our constitution,' Hermann said. 'The new complaint includes new facts which come up to present day, because despite the fact that there was a letter of finding that District 65 violated civil rights laws, they continue to dig in and continue to violate our laws in this country, and continue to refuse to look at things through a colorblind lens and focus on race instead of education.' When asked why a Georgia-based organization is representing Deemar in Illinois, Hermann said the Southeastern Legal Foundation has clients all over the country. 'We are the country's oldest conservative public interest law firm,' she said, noting that the 50th year anniversary will be in 2026, and that the foundations represents its clients for free. Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in the announcement, 'The policies and practices to which the District allegedly subjects students and teachers shocks the conscience. Amid a dismal academic achievement record, the District appears to focus on unlawfully segregating students by race, instructing students to step forward and others to step back on the basis of race, and associating 'whiteness' with the devil. If true, how is this conceivable in America today?' When asked why the U.S. Department of Education is investigating the north suburban school district, Julie Hartman, a spokesperson for the department, referred inquiries to the Southeastern Legal Foundation.
Yahoo
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump administration investigating Illinois school district for discrimination over ‘privilege walks' and diversity training
The Department of Education is investigating an Illinois school district for allegedly violating federal civil rights law through its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, the Trump administration announced on Thursday, the latest sign of its opposition to such programs. 'After four long years of the Biden Administration's tolerance for this kind of conduct, the American people returned President Trump to office to end this madness and enforce Title VI,' Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor wrote in a statement, referring to the law barring discrimination at federally funded institutions. 'This Department of Education will not allow districts that receive federal funding to become safe spaces for racial segregation or any other unlawful discriminatory practices,' he added. The investigation stems from allegations from Dr. Stacy Deemar, a white drama teacher who filed a complaint with the department's Office of Civil Rights Deemar, with support from the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a conservative advocacy group, accuses the Evanston-Skokie School District 65 of a variety of instances of racism across teacher training and student activities. These include the directing staff and students to engage in 'privilege walk' exercises, in which participants step forward if they benefit from certain forms of identity-based privileges, as well as hosting specific discussion groups for staff and students with different racial and ethnic identities. In an April complaint to the department from the foundation, Deemar said faculty had to undergo trainings when they were told that 'white people tend to dominate conversation by setting the tone for how everyone must talk and which words should be used,' and 'white educators who actively disengage from conversations about improving the achievement of students of color and indigenous students are racist.' The teacher also took issue with the district's Black Lives Matter-inspired curriculum and events, in which teachers were allegedly guided to teach students to 'understand that our country has a racist history that is grounded in white privilege,' while others were told to read elementary school students Not My Idea: A Book about Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham, which features an illustration comparing whiteness to a deal with the devil giving participants 'stolen land, stolen riches, [and] special favors.' The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Deemar previously accused the district of misconduct in 2019, prompting the first Trump administration to recognize her claims as valid, findings that were 'hastily suspended' under the Biden administration, according to an April complaint from Southeastern Legal Foundation sent to the Department of Education. In August of 2024, a federal court dismissed a related lawsuit from the drama teacher, with a judge writing that Deemar 'was not personally subject to racial staff affinity groups, not treated differently from others in terms of her exposure to the school's race-conscious lesson plans for students and teachers, and otherwise not denied any tangible benefits or targeted for negative treatment on account of her race.' She filed an amended complaint later that year. The Trump administration has made eliminating diversity policies and shifting the priorities of civil rights enforcement on campus a major part of its early agenda. In April, the Department of Education threatened public schools with the loss of federal funding if they didn't certify they follow civil rights laws, a stance which the Trump administration argues includes abandoning diversity programs it sees as racist, though federal courts have so far paused this effort. The department has also used Title VI to investigate scores of major U.S. universities for alleged campus antisemitism, part of the White House's larger campaign against schools that saw prominent pro-Palestinian activist in recent years amid the Israel-Hamas war. At the same time as the education department has taken on a prominent role in campus civil rights work, the Department of Justice, typically the most prominent arm of the government working on such cases, has seen a mass exodus of civil rights lawyers in recent days, as the DOJ reportedly has encouraged staff to focus on new priorities combatting antisemitism, transgender participation in women's sports, and what the administration deems 'woke ideology' rather than areas like voting rights and police misconduct. In a potential sign of things to come, the department this week lifted a long-running school desegregation order in Louisiana, one of many such 'consent decrees' established in the wake of the Civil Rights Era.
The Independent
02-05-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Trump administration investigating Illinois school district for discrimination over ‘privilege walks' and diversity training
The Department of Education is investigating an Illinois school district for allegedly violating federal civil rights law through its diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives, the Trump administration announced on Thursday, the latest sign of its opposition to such programs. 'After four long years of the Biden Administration's tolerance for this kind of conduct, the American people returned President Trump to office to end this madness and enforce Title VI,' Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor wrote in a statement, referring to the law barring discrimination at federally funded institutions. 'This Department of Education will not allow districts that receive federal funding to become safe spaces for racial segregation or any other unlawful discriminatory practices,' he added. The investigation stems from allegations from Dr. Stacy Deemar, a white drama teacher who filed a complaint with the department's Office of Civil Rights Deemar, with support from the Southeastern Legal Foundation, a conservative advocacy group, accuses the Evanston-Skokie School District 65 of a variety of instances of racism across teacher training and student activities. These include the directing staff and students to engage in 'privilege walk' exercises, in which participants step forward if they benefit from certain forms of identity-based privileges, as well as hosting specific discussion groups for staff and students with different racial and ethnic identities. In an April complaint to the department from the foundation, Deemar said faculty had to undergo trainings when they were told that 'white people tend to dominate conversation by setting the tone for how everyone must talk and which words should be used,' and 'white educators who actively disengage from conversations about improving the achievement of students of color and indigenous students are racist.' The teacher also took issue with the district's Black Lives Matter-inspired curriculum and events, in which teachers were allegedly guided to teach students to 'understand that our country has a racist history that is grounded in white privilege,' while others were told to read elementary school students Not My Idea: A Book about Whiteness by Anastasia Higginbotham, which features an illustration comparing whiteness to a deal with the devil giving participants 'stolen land, stolen riches, [and] special favors.' The district did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Deemar previously accused the district of misconduct in 2019, prompting the first Trump administration to recognize her claims as valid, findings that were 'hastily suspended' under the Biden administration, according to an April complaint from Southeastern Legal Foundation sent to the Department of Education. In August of 2024, a federal court dismissed a related lawsuit from the drama teacher, with a judge writing that Deemar 'was not personally subject to racial staff affinity groups, not treated differently from others in terms of her exposure to the school's race-conscious lesson plans for students and teachers, and otherwise not denied any tangible benefits or targeted for negative treatment on account of her race.' She filed an amended complaint later that year. The Trump administration has made eliminating diversity policies and shifting the priorities of civil rights enforcement on campus a major part of its early agenda. In April, the Department of Education threatened public schools with the loss of federal funding if they didn't certify they follow civil rights laws, a stance which the Trump administration argues includes abandoning diversity programs it sees as racist, though federal courts have so far paused this effort. The department has also used Title VI to investigate scores of major U.S. universities for alleged campus antisemitism, part of the White House's larger campaign against schools that saw prominent pro-Palestinian activist in recent years amid the Israel-Hamas war. At the same time as the education department has taken on a prominent role in campus civil rights work, the Department of Justice, typically the most prominent arm of the government working on such cases, has seen a mass exodus of civil rights lawyers in recent days, as the DOJ reportedly has encouraged staff to focus on new priorities combatting antisemitism, transgender participation in women's sports, and what the administration deems 'woke ideology' rather than areas like voting rights and police misconduct. In a potential sign of things to come, the department this week lifted a long-running school desegregation order in Louisiana, one of many such 'consent decrees' established in the wake of the Civil Rights Era.
Daily Mail
01-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Trump targets major 'woke' public school in push to rip apart 'racially charged' programs
President Donald Trump 's Department of Education is ramping up investigations into public schools in order to weed out any attempts to target students by their race. The Department's Office for Civil Rights is preparing to announce a Title VI investigation into Evanston-Skokie School District 65 in Evanston, Illinois, according to the Trump administration. A Department of Education official confirmed that the Office of Civil Rights sent the letter to District officials. 'The policies and practices to which the District allegedly subjects students and teachers shocks the conscience. Amid a dismal academic achievement record, the District appears to focus on unlawfully segregating students by race, instructing students to step forward and others to step back on the basis of race, and associating 'whiteness' with the devil. If true, how is this conceivable in America today?,' Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor told the Daily Mail. The complaints were raised by Dr. Stacy Deemar, a drama teacher teaching in the district represented by the Southern Legal Foundation. Deemar sued District 65 on the grounds of racial discrimination and creating an 'ongoing racially hostile environment' due to their 'race based programming' but it was dismissed by a federal judge in August. Deemar first raised the complaints to the civil rights division in 2019, but the investigation was suspended days after President Joe Biden took office and dismissed in September 2024. The complaint, obtained by the Daily Mail, was refiled on April 24th in a memo to the Department of Education and contains multiple examples of training, teaching, and organizing students and faculty by singling them out according to their race. Title VI of the Civil Rights Act (1964) prohibits discrimination in schools on the bases of race, color, and national origin in education programs. If found guilty of a Title VI violation, schools face a loss of federal funding. The school district was accused of pursuing race-based discriminatory programs for public school students for years, according to the complaint. In one incident, the school district required staff to acknowledge their racial identity in especially if they were white and treated them accordingly, even physically separating them for training based on their race. Part of the training programs included 'The Courageous Conversations' program which aggressively pursued the idea of 'white privilege' in the education system. 'Educators must acknowledge White skin privilege and work to develop a deeper understanding of this reality in order to fully examine the cultural implications of Whiteness in schools,' the district wrote. During staff meetings and trainings, the school district would segregate staff by race in order to address different equity practices based the color of their skin. The investigation also includes materials and lesson plans describing the idea of the nuclear family as 'whiteness/white supremacy.' 'It [is] important to disrupt the Western nuclear family dynamics as the best/proper way to have a family[.]' one example included in the report reads. Evidence displayed in the southeastern Legal Foundation complaint Other documents urged teachers to practice 'equity' while disciplining students to make sure that 'students of color, students with disabilities, LGBTQ+ students, and students with limited English proficiency' were not 'marginalized' in schools. Evidence displayed in the southeastern Legal Foundation complaint One elementary school separated students by race into 'racial affinity' meetings twice a month to discuss 'white privilege, internalized dominance, [and] microaggressions,' the complaint noted. At another event, students were required to take two steps forward if they were white and non-white student were directed to take two steps back to help teach the concept of 'colorism privilege.' One lesson instruction book pictured in the report, described 'Whiteness' was a 'bad deal' with the devil. Whiteness, the image detailed, allowed white people to get 'stolen land, stolen riches, special favors.' Other materials in the district featured an article warning that even 5-year-old children were 'racially biased' and needed to be reconstructed about racial behavior. The announcement of the investigation symbolizes President Trump's goal of eliminating diversity, equity, and inclusion materials in public schools which became widely implemented after the Black Lives Matter riots in 2019. The carefully constructed Southeastern Legal Foundation report features 18 pages of material documenting incidents they feel breaking Title VI laws. 'SLF is thankful that the Trump Administration recognizes that enough is enough and, following Dr. Deemar's new OCR complaint, has launched an investigation into unconscionable racial discrimination in District 65 - Evanston, IL,' said Southeastern Legal Foundation Executive Director Kimberly Hermann to the Daily Mail.
