ACLU files civil rights complaint against Paw Paw Public Schools
The America Civil Liberties Union of Michigan has filed a complaint against Paw Paw Public Schools alleging a racially hostile educational environment in the district.
In its complaint to the US Department of Education Office for Civil Rights, the ACLU cited the following incidents they say were gathered from Freedom of Information Act requests.
One document alleges that students placed a swastika and a small Hitler figurine in the basket of another student’s model hot air balloon science project. In response to a complaint the teacher allegedly described the swastika as “artistic.”
One report states: “Tuesday coming back from lunch, [name deleted] pushed another student and called him the N word.”
Another report states: “…[name deleted] came to me yesterday and wanted to talk to me about how he was feeling after the election. Yesterday afternoon he told me he had been hearing racist remarks from other students such as “Trump’s in the house,” “Go back to Mexico,” “Go back to your country now and pick blueberries.”
A report alleges that “[name deleted] called another student a ‘dirty Mexican.’”
The ACLU says it is requesting a voluntary resolution agreement with the Paw Paw Public Schools district, rather than request federal funds be withheld.
