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The Eugene School District has joined a lawsuit opposing the U.S. Department of Education’s new race-based policies under the Trump administration.
It is the first school district to do so following the issue of a letter to colleagues from the Federal Department’s Office For Civil Rights, which teachers say is impossible to comply with.
Eugene School District Joins Lawsuit Against Education Department’s ‘Dear Colleague’ Letter
A letter of February 14, which has become known as the ‘Dear Colleague letter‘ in which the new Trump administration dictates that schools and universities must get rid of “race-based” practices or risk losing federal funding, has received significant opposition.
The Trump administration said the new policy would end discrimination against white and Asian students.
Eugene, the southern Willamette Valley district, is a city known for its Democratic and progressive leanings. It has about 16,000 students and joined a federal lawsuit that the American Federation of Teachers filed on Tuesday in the U.S. District Court in Maryland.
In a press release, Eugene school board chair Jenny Jonak said complying with the memo would put every other district in Oregon, including Eugene, in an impossible position as it does not adhere to the state’s required academic content standards, including teaching tribal history and ethnic studies.
The U.S. Department of Education also announced the launch of a new public portal, EndDEI.ed.gov, on Thursday to root out “divisive ideologies” and “rogue sex education” in the nation’s public schools by allowing “parents, students, teachers and the broader community to submit reports of discrimination based on race or sex in publicly funded K-12 schools.
The lawsuit against the new DEI policy alleges that the Education Department’s memo violates the First and Fifth Amendments.
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