Colorado school district used ‘racial filter’ when disciplining students: Complaint

FIRST ON FOX: A conservative legal group aligned with Trump has filed a civil rights lawsuit, alleging that a Colorado school district uses race as a major factor when determining disciplinary procedures and has retaliated against administrators who try to respond.

America First Legal (AFL), founded by Stephen Miller, a top Trump adviser, filed a civil rights complaint asking the Department of Education and the Department of Justice to investigate the Cherry Creek School District, alleging that it violates Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. In its complaint, the AFL cites a specific case in which a black student and an Asian student engaged in nearly identical behavior, but only the Asian student was disciplined.

The AFL also obtained secret recordings of discussions between administrators that allegedly show them admitting that the district’s DEI chief interfered with disciplinary proceedings on the basis of race. Additionally, when an administrator attempted to intervene and report this allegedly racist activity, he faced retaliation, according to the AFL.

“If a public school district can openly operate discipline and employment systems through a racial filter, then the rule of law means nothing,” said Nick Barry, senior attorney at America First Legal. “This is discrimination, plain and simple. It is the gentle bigotry of low expectations and should not be tolerated. The department must step in and restore equal treatment for students, educators and families.”

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A Cherry Creek School District bus seen parked. (Photo by John Leyba/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

Fox News Digital reached out to the district for comment but declined to comment on the matter, telling Fox News Digital it could not comment because the district had “no knowledge” of the AFL’s civil rights complaint, although Fox News Digital forwarded a copy of the complaint to the district. The AFL’s complaint was filed electronically with the federal government.

In late 2023, according to the complaint, the district’s Campus Middle School disciplined and suspended three female students after a video of them off campus during Thanksgiving break using variations of the “N” word while under the influence of alcohol was brought to the district’s attention. Two students, one white and one Hispanic, were allegedly depicted in the video using racist language, while the third Asian woman did not appear in the video and only recorded the encounter.

Meanwhile, a fourth Black student at the middle school allegedly asked the Asian student who recorded the encounter to send her the video, which the Black student then forwarded to her sister, a Black student at the district’s high school, who, according to the AFL, then posted the video on social media and tagged the white, Hispanic and Asian students’ accounts. The black student who forwarded the video to her black sister also forwarded it to her mother, who then shared the video with the Rocky Mountain NAACP, according to the complaint.

Despite nearly identical behavior from the Asian student and black students in the district, only the Asian student was disciplined, the AFL said. She received the same punishment as the two students pictured in the video using inappropriate language, which included months of expulsion hearings that ultimately resulted in her suspension from the school, according to the AFL.

“[The Black students involved] broadcast the video to a much wider audience than [the Asian student involved]”, states the AFL complaint. “Despite both [Black female students involved] engage in conduct materially identical to that [the Asian female student involved]the District imposed no discipline. … After [the Black female students involved] Identical violations came to light, with former campus assistant principal Dan Hanson asking staff not to address the issue in electronic communications due to concerns about public records requests and adverse publicity.

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According to the AFL complaint, one of the undisciplined black students continued to exhibit persistent behavioral problems and secret recordings she obtained, involving discussions among district administrators, show Campus Middle School officials admitting that the district’s equity department was interfering with equal enforcement of disciplinary policies.

Protesters in Michigan are rallying against President Donald Trump’s anti-DEI policies, denouncing federal rollbacks on diversity, equity and inclusion programs. (Getty Images/Dominic Gwinn)

“[T]their first instinct is implicit bias. So if, for example, [Redacted] does not respond appropriately to [the Black female student’s] concerns, it is because [Redacted] has implicit biases towards a young black woman, and that she doesn’t know how to navigate the cultural identity of a young black woman and that she [Black female student involved] speaks to him like [she] don’t talk to anyone,” Campus Middle School Principal Lissa Staal reportedly said during a meeting with school leaders.

“It’s exactly like that [the Black female student involved] communicates. And it’s culturally appropriate for [the Black female student involved] “And what happens is that the whiteness present in our building looks at this in a punitive way…that we assign negative connotations to what is essentially, exactly, we call it disrespectful or disruptive or provocative when it’s just communicating in a culturally appropriate way.”

According to the AFL complaint, school staff said they had “no ability to enforce anything” against the Black student who continued to act out because she “would lose every time” since her “hands were tied” by the district’s DEI department.

The district also allegedly retaliated against its former dean of students, Pat Hogarty, when he expressed disagreement with the district’s DEI priorities, according to the AFL complaint.

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“In January 2024, Mr. Hogarty participated in the Courageous Conversations training. Faced with the theme ‘What does it mean to be White?’ “What experiences define whiteness? » and “How do you identify yourself?” Mr. Hogarty said that ‘he identifies as an American, loves his country, and believes it is the greatest country ever founded,'” the AFL complaint states.

“Shortly after the training, Principal Staal informed Mr. Hogarty that the Department of Equity’s Executive Director, Mr. Garcia y Ortiz, had taken issue with Mr. Hogarty’s failure to “recognize what people of color experience” and his refusal “to admit that America is systemically racist.” Mr. Hogarty later learned that Garcia y Ortiz had called Mr. Hogarty’s comments during training “racist overtones.” About a month later, Mr Hogarty was informed his position had been eliminated for “budgetary reasons”.

Because the Cherry Creek School District receives federal funds, it is subject to discrimination guidelines under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. The AFL has called on the Departments of Education and Justice to further investigate the matter and implement any necessary corrective actions or referrals to uphold federal civil rights law.