Federal Complaint Filed Against Major School District Over ‘Segregated’ Teacher Trainings On Racism

Parents Defending 🎓Education (PDE) filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) Monday over Boston Public Schools’ (BPS) “racially-segregated” teacher training programs.

Presentation slides from the district detail their mission to train “white school leader(s)” in antiracism, according to the complaint. PDE’s letter called on the commission to investigate the district’s hiring and training processes and “act swiftly to remedy unlawful policies and practices, and order appropriate relief.”

The “white affinity group” asked participants to commit to antiracism and address the “system that needs to be destroyed in order for Black people to stay alive and well,” according to PDE. Further training materials obtained by PDE reveal the district teaches that racism towards white people does not exist and white people must “prioritize the voices of people of Color.”

“If a district’s racially-segregated teacher support programs would earn a stamp of approval from the KKK, something has gone terribly wrong — and the fact that no administrators in the district seem to have opposed this programming raises additional red flags,” Nicole Neily, president of PDE, said in a statement. “It’s not rocket science: including or excluding public school staff from opportunities on the basis of skin color is wrong.”