The Ann Arbor School District’s $460,000 plan to raise the academic performance of black students has been challenged as racist in a complaint to the U.S. Department of Education.
The district’s plan is “inherently racist” in part because it does nothing to remedy the gap between high-achieving Asian students and white students, according to the complaint.
The Ann Arbor News obtained a copy of the complaint under a Freedom of Information Act request. It said the complaint was received Sept. 29 at the Department of Education’s Cleveland civil rights office and that the office is determining whether it is authorized to handle the complaint.
The allegations target the 11-step, $460,000 plan to bridge the black-white achievement gap that board of education members passed unanimously in June.
“The program has as its defined goal the closing of the gap in scores of black pupils relative to white pupils. Thus, it is an inherently racist initiative,” the complaint alleges.
