An Illinois high school has been accused of offering several math courses that are restricted to students based on their race, according to a civil rights complaint obtained by the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Mark Perry, Senior Fellow at Do No Harm, a medical watchdog group, filed a civil rights complaint against Evanston Township High School for allegedly offering several algebra, calculus and precalculus course codes open only to students who are black or “latinx.” The complaint, filed to the Chicago Office for Civil Rights, identifies several class codes that are “restricted to students who identify as Latinx, all genders,” or restricted to students who “identify as Black, all genders,” according to the 2023-2023 course catalog. (RELATED: EXCLUSIVE: School District Violated Civil Rights Act By Hosting Race-Based Student Groups, Complaint Alleges)
In the 2023-2024 school year, the high school is offering “AP [Advanced Placement] Calculus AB” which is equivalent to “one semester of college calculus,” though the class code is “restricted to students who identify as Black, all genders,” the course catalog showed. An identical course allegedly limits its enrollment to students who “identify as Latinx, all genders.”
However, the high school is offering an identical calculus course with a code that does not restrict enrollment on the basis of race, the 2023-2024 course catalog showed.
Totally illegal, will file a federal civil rights complaint ASAP with the Chicago Office for Civil Rights. https://t.co/6T42nHNKVN
— Mark J. Perry (@Mark_J_Perry) April 30, 2023
In January, Evanston Township School District’s board of education discussed how it would address the low enrollment of students of color in accelerated courses, according to the Daily Northwestern. The district’s Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Pete Bavis suggested that the school offer students identity-based courses to make the accelerated classes more accessible to underrepresented groups.
The number of civil rights complaints filed to the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights hit a record high in the last year; from October 2021 to September 2022, complaints alleging discrimination in the nation’s schools almost doubled from the previous year, with nearly 19,000 filed, according to The New York Times. Most of the complaints name discrimination on the basis of race and sex.
Evanston Township High School did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.
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