Parents file discrimination complaint against Germantown School District
Some parents in the Germantown School District filed a complaint Sept. 25 against the district for what they say is its failure to address discrimination in its schools.
The parents filed the complaint with the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, claiming the district failed "to address a culture of pervasive race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, and disability-based discrimination in its schools," according to a news release from Elisabeth Lambert, an attorney who runs the Wisconsin Education Law and Policy Hub and is representing the parents.
"The complaint follows years of advocacy: parents have repeatedly raised these concerns to GSD leaders but the district has not taken the kind of proactive steps necessary to ensure all students a safe, fair and welcoming learning environment," the release said.
It seeks a "full, transparent investigation" and "decisive action to improve school climate," the release said.
Also in the release, parent Joshua Johnson said the delay in addressing the issues has caused the community to lose trust in school leadership, teachers to leave the district and parents to take their children out of the district.
"Our kids can’t wait any longer; we need to turn the tide," Johnson said.
The complaint lists parents Melissa Garves, Brad Schiereck and Johnson as complainants.
Germantown superintendent Chris Reuter said the district learned about the complaint through a reporter's Sept. 25 email and had not heard from the Office for Civil Rights as of Sept. 26.
The Office for Civil Rights Chicago office did not immediately respond to a phone or email message.
School Board President Brian Medved also did not respond to phone and email messages.
Here's more about the complaint:
What is the complaint asking for?
The complaint is asking the Germantown School District to:
stop white supremacist speech and conduct in district schools,
stop racial and LGBTQ+ harassment in schools,
end policies restricting instruction about race, gender and sexual orientation,
end policies requiring disclosure of students' transgender or nonbinary identity to parents,
require anti-harassment and anti-bias programming for all students,
require training for staff on responding to student harassment,
institute training to help elementary school teachers to better support students with disabilities,
review the district's special education budget, policies and practices to ensure students with disabilities' needs are being met.
What incidents prompted the complaint against the Germantown School District?
The complaint alleges the Germantown School District "is creating and tolerating a hostile environment" for Black, biracial and students of color, Jewish students, LBTQI+ students, students who are allies or family members of LGBTQI+ people and students with disabilities by failing to deal with harassment. The complaint also alleges that school board members' comments during meetings "convey bias against and exclusion of students in these protected groups."
The complaint said the district's policies limit the district's ability to stop harassment of students in those affected groups.
It also lists numerous incidents alleged to have occurred since the 2020-21 school year, including these:
In February 2021, a student used a racial slur to refer to three Black students, including Johnson's daughter, during their lunch hour at Germantown High School.
A series of incidents in May in which swastikas were discovered on the gym floor, a boys bathroom stall, the back of a choir room door and on desks, lockers and textbooks at Kennedy Middle School. Middle school students also saw an elementary school student draw a swastika at a Germantown park, and a metal swastika was found in a trash bin in a welding class at Germantown High School.
Some County Line Elementary School teachers were overheard speaking disparagingly about students with disabilities. One example: A teacher reading text messages aloud to other teachers from a student with special needs and the student's parent and publicly mocking them while the teachers were socializing at a bar.
Three weeks into the current school year, a transgender high school student reported multiple uses of an anti-gay slur.
What does the complaint say about discrimination against students with disabilities?
The complaint says the district has been cutting its special education funding for the last two years, which has led to students being shorted on special education minutes provided for in their IEPs, and not receiving mobility supports and access to quiet test-taking facilities even when included in their Individualized Education Plan or 504 plan. The complaint also alleges the district does not write its IEPs and Section 504 plans in required language, making them less clear and enforceable.
The district lost about a dozen staff members focused on special education services at the end of 2022-23, through resignations or retirements.
The complaint also said that some district elementary school teachers will keep students in the classroom to complete classwork as punishment for failing to do so even when the teachers' practices violate students' IEPs or Section 504 plans.
Contact Alec Johnson at (262) 875-9469 or alec.johnson@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlecJohnson12.
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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Parents file complaint against Germantown School District
