Parents Defending Education, a parental rights group, filed a complaint Tuesday to the Department of Education Office of Civil Rights (OCR) against a Pennsylvania school district that allegedly engaged in racial segregation.
The complaint, obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation, names Lower Merion School District in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, for their alleged creation and use of “affinity groups” which separated the students on the basis of race. The school district offers two programs, “REACH” and “Equity Efforts,” that are designed specifically for students of color, the complaint stated. (RELATED: Law Group Sues Texas Medical Schools For Allegedly Admitting Students Based On Race Rather Than Merit)
“Lower Merion is a perfect example of administrators and educators gone amuck – and where, unfortunately, the students are the ones who are being left behind,” Caroline Moore, vice president of Parents Defending Education, told the DCNF. “The district is taking advantage of elementary school students by indoctrinating them with racist propaganda beginning in first grade using lesson plans that foster race-based conversations, which lump students into categories based on how they look. In addition, the district has created affinity groups throughout K-12, rather than creating opportunities for students to connect based on interest areas, coursework, and after-school activities.”
View of the corridor at Fallsington Elementary School in Levittown, Pennsylvania on December 16, 2021. – As Joshua Waldorf was running for a third term on the Pennsbury school board in November, one particularly heated debate triggered a flood of vitriolic messages to his inbox — one of them urging him to shoot himself. (Photo by KYLIE COOPER/AFP via Getty Images)
Lower Merion School District hosts an affinity group titled “REACH” specifically for middle school students of color to discuss “race, empowerment and inclusivity,” the complaint alleged. The group gives students the opportunity to meet with other students of color from different school districts.
The school district’s “Equity Efforts” group allegedly encourages only high school students of color to join to “engage in conversations” relating to their “cultural heritage,” the complaint stated.
The school district offers a course titled “Cultural Proficiency for Kids” for elementary school students which allegedly aims to “increase students’ understanding of identity and diversity” through the study of equity, justice and antiracism, the complaint stated. Within its course titled “Cultural Proficiency for Kids,” Lower Merion School District allegedly taught students about “equity, justice and antiracism,”
As a part of the “Cultural Proficiency for Kids” course, elementary school students read “The Skin You Live In,” a nursery rhyme about “social acceptance,” and discuss their skin color while pointing out different races throughout the book, the complaint alleged.
Students are given mirrors and asked to “look closely at, and identify, their distinguished attributes,” according to the complaint. The class allegedly teaches students that “babies as young as 7 months can discern race and show preferences.”
The OCR and Lower Merion School District did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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