The Madison Metropolitan School District (MMSD) faces a lawsuit amid charges the district pushed a policy that teachers must “prioritize…African American students.”
The Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) accuses the district of violating public records law.
According to the complaint, filed Tuesday in Dane County Circuit Court, WILL has been waiting nearly a year for records on the district’s use of “small instructional groups” for “reading, foundational skills, and math.” A whistleblower had provided WILL with a partial copy of an official policy stating that MMSD teachers must “prioritize your African American students meeting with you first and more often.”
The Milwaukee-based public interest law firm then asked for the complete policy and other related public records. MMSD has refused to provide public records “related to this discriminatory policy,” defying Wisconsin’s open records laws, WILL said in a press release.
More so, WILL Associate Counsel Cory Brewer said race discrimination has no place in public education.
“It is illegal and immoral. Parents and community members have a right to know how and why Madison has been discriminating against students based on race,” she said.
The lawsuit is a joint effort between WILL’s Equality Under the Law Project and the Wisconsin Transparency Project, which specializes in open records laws.
Transparency Project founder and president Tom Kamenick said Madison Schools might be the state’s worst offender of extreme delays in responding to record requests.
“Several requests to the district have remained unfulfilled for more than a year, and they have a long history of problems,” said Kamenick, who in 2020 won a year-long court battle for Milwaukee-based Fox6 News in its request to obtain emails from Gov. Tony Evers.
Reports suggest MMSD parsing language and playing semantics with “policy.”
Referencing the policy document WILL requested, the district told The Wisconsin State Journal that there is no “official policy.”
“Rather, it was language found in a singular guidance document, the content of which was modified over a year ago,” the district said in a statement to the newspaper.
“Counter to WILL’s narratives, (Madison Metropolitan School District) strives to create learning spacing where all students, staff and families can thrive. Part of our work is to ensure our scholars have the necessary supports in place for academic and social-emotional success,” the district added.
Dan Lennington, WILL’s deputy counsel, submitted the original records request in January 2022. He followed up on March 8, August 4, September 19, September 28, November 18, and December 6, with no response other than a single comment from MMSD that “we will review this request as soon as practical,” according to the lawsuit.
WILL intern Dylan Palmer also requested records from MMSD on June 1, 2022, asking for a “complete list of school board adopted textbooks on file with the clerk.” The district responded on June 2, saying the COVID-19 pandemic has caused “staff constraints” that had caused them to “experience a delay in responding to requests.”
Other institutions and individuals have also faced significant resistance by MMSD in obtaining public records, including NBC 15, WILL’s press release states.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
