EXCLUSIVE — A civil rights complaint was filed against an Illinois school district on Monday, alleging discrimination against students who do not identify as “Black, Biracial, or African American.”
Parental rights watchdog Parents Defending Education filed the complaint against Community Unit School District 308 in Oswego, Illinois, alleging that the district’s use of racial criteria for participation in an affinity group offering educational benefits constitutes discrimination.
“It is ridiculous, and frankly, unconscionable that schools like Community Unit School District 308 are creating mentorship and educational opportunities for students based solely on their race,” Vice President of Parents Defending Education Carolina Moore told the Washington Examiner.
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“Creating situations where students are separated in public schools by race at such a young age perpetuates race biases and discrimination that has no place in public schools in 2025,” Moore added. “I look forward to OCR investigating and discontinuing such discriminatory practices that pit kids against each other.”
The complaint cites a flyer promoting an affinity group called the Black Students Alliance Buddies, promoting programming facilitated by a subset of the district’s Equity and Engagement Department called the “Teachers on Special Assignment Division.”
Under a section titled “Who Can Attend,” it shows that only elementary students in 4th and 5th grade who “Identify as Black, Biracial, or African American” can be part of the group, and receive benefits such as “mentorship” with high school students, “identity development,” and “academic success.”
PDE claims this is in violation of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 as well as the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because the school district offers “benefit[s] on the basis of race” while receiving federal funding.
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The watchdog group cited a 2015 case where the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights found a school district in violation after holding a “Black Lives Matter” assembly for “African American students only.” Just holding a race-exclusive assembly violated Title VI and the Equal Protection Clause, according to OCR, which is why PDE is confident that offering race-exclusive educational benefits presents a similar, if not more egregious, civil rights violation.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Community Unit School District 308 for comment.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
