A Massachusetts school district entered into a settlement agreement with a parent activist group that had sued it for holding a series of racially segregated activities.
Parents Defending Education had sued Wellesley Public Schools for holding the racially segregated activities last year. In the newly announced settlement agreement, the district agreed to never hold them again.
Parents Defending Education President Nicole Neily said in a statement that the organization was “thrilled that Wellesley Public Schools has agreed to respect both the First and Fourteenth Amendment rights of its students going forward.”
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“This settlement sends a clear message that racially segregating students in public schools is wrong – and there will be consequences,” Neily said. “We have spent decades teaching our kids that racial segregation was and will always be wrong. We will not tolerate a return to segregation in 2022.”
Wellesley Public Schools had hosted a series of racially segregated “affinity groups,” a growing trend among public schools nationwide that have adopted elements of critical race theory in their curricula and school programs.
Critical race theory, which says American institutions and culture are systemically racist and oppressive to racial minorities, has been the subject of intense controversy over its presence in public schools.
School districts often contract with education consulting companies and organizations to help them incorporate the theory into the classroom by coaching teachers to do so in teacher training programs.
Parents Defending Education says it has identified several education consulting groups that have advocated for the use of “affinity groups” based on racial identity. Those programs, the organization says, have appeared in school districts from New Haven, Connecticut, to Fort Worth, Texas, and Wilmington, Delaware.
Additionally, race-based affinity groups have surfaced in numerous school districts. Some districts, such as Washington, D.C., and Indianapolis, only used them for staff, while others, including Seattle and Denver, have implemented them for students.
Under the terms of the settlement agreement, Wellesley cannot ever hold affinity groups based on racial categories again. A policy for reporting “bias” in the school was also permanently suspended under the terms.
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“PDE’s lawsuit and the resulting settlement means Wellesley Public Schools may no longer treat students differently on the basis of race while ignoring the guaranteed protections of the Fourteenth Amendment – nor intentionally chill student speech while ignoring the guaranteed protections of the First Amendment,” Parents Defending Education said.
Wellesley Public Schools did not respond to a request for comment.
