KIRKWOOD — A national conservative organization has filed two federal civil rights complaints against the Kirkwood School District for creating student and teacher groups that it claims exclude members who aren’t people of color.
Parents Defending Education, or PDE, filed the complaints with the U.S. Department of Education for discrimination on the basis of race on Oct. 4, adding Kirkwood to PDE’s growing list of districts targeted for its use of so-called affinity groups.
Affinity groups are intended as safe spaces for members with common identities, such as race or religion, to discuss issues related to their identities while providing a sense of community. PDE said Kirkwood fostered these groups only for students and teachers of color in violation of federal law, which bars exclusion based on race.
“Public schools receive public funding,†said Caroline Moore, vice president of PDE. “That means every educational opportunity needs to be open to all students.â€
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Kirkwood’s Chief Communications Officer Steph Deidrick said the district has worked for more than 10 years to foster a sense of belonging among staff and students by forming “empowering groups for those furthest from justice.â€
“Research shows that these affinity groups help strengthen our school community and honor the dignity of each individual in our schools,†Deidrick said in a statement. “We are very disappointed that these long-standing efforts to make all students and staff feel included in our KSD community have been so profoundly mischaracterized.â€
One of PDE’s complaints centers around alleged benefits members of the student affinity groups receive, such as “affinity group tutoring†and a scholarship awarded by the Kirkwood Teachers of Color to departing seniors of color with a 2.5 GPA or higher.
The second complaint challenges programming centered around teachers and staff of color. It cited a page on Kirkwood’s website about recruitment efforts to hire teachers of color and a newsletter that mentioned a private online page for the group Kirkwood Staff of Color.
“Even the Kirkwood Teachers of Color Newsletter states that the affinity group is only open to some educators to participate, and involvement is tied to an individual’s race,†the complaint reads.
The group’s complaints do not provide specific examples of people being excluded from the affinity groups.
PDE, whose stated goal is to “reclaim schools from activists,†has filed at least six other civil rights complaints against school districts over affinity groups amid far-right outcry against equity and inclusion initiatives.
The U.S. Department of Education dismissed one complaint against a Colorado school district in July because PDE failed to prove membership was restricted based on race.
PDE also challenged Wellesley Public Schools in Massachusetts over affinity groups for students of color in a federal lawsuit. PDE dropped that complaint when the district agreed to clarify the groups were open to all.
In every complaint, PDE admits they have no direct ties to the districts, but are taking action as an “interested third party†opposed to racial discrimination and “political indoctrination in America’s schools.â€
Moore said PDE receives tips through its website and found the information cited in the complaints through Kirkwood’s website. She said some of the content has been taken offline.
Anyone can file a complaint with the Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights.
Racial divides have been an issue in the Kirkwood School District for more than a century, starting with families in the historically-Black neighborhood of Meacham Park for their children.
Closing racial divides has been a key focus for Kirkwood in recent decades. Work to address an achievement gap between Black and white students in the district has been an over 30-year effort, with the district forming three committees since 1990 to address the chasmic difference between Black and white students’ test scores.
The number of Black students meeting or exceeding district benchmarks has increased in nearly all K-8 grade levels, Deidrick said.
And in 2022, the district relocated its central office to Meacham Park to bring the community closer together.
When asked if she was aware of Kirkwood’s history, Moore said the district should focus more on ways to foster relationships between students as opposed to “pinning them against each other based on their race.â€
Kirkwood has lost much of its racial diversity in recent decades, in part due to the phasing out of St. Louis’ voluntary desegregation program.
The district’s population of Black students has nearly halved since 2014 and teetered around 9% for the past four years.
Yet recruitment and retention of diverse staff remains a part of Kirkwood’s strategic plan through 2026. As of July 2023, 83.5% of the district’s staff were white.