The US Department of Education on Thursday told staff that he would remove his month of freezing complaints about discrimination in schools and colleges across the country – but only to continue the disability investigation.
This means that the thousands of unresolved complaints filed in the Civil Rights Department, related to race and gender discrimination – most of whom are provided by students and families – will continue to sit idle. This includes cases that claim unfair discipline or persecution on the race.
“I raise a pause for processing complaints claiming discrimination based on disability. Please immediately, please process complaints that claim only discrimination based on disability,”-writing the acting director of the Craig Coach, who was an internal memo obtained propublica. He was sent to the employee to the forced office, most of which are lawyers.
The press secretary of the Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Last week PROPUBLICA reported that the Education Department was stopped permanent civil rights Research, an unusual step even during the presidential transition. The department staff said they were told not to communicate with students, families and schools who participated in the cases launched in previous administrations, describing the Edict as “order” and say that “essentially” intended “.
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After the inauguration of President Donald Trump, only a few new cases opened, and almost all of them reflect his priorities. Research aimed at the gender bathroom of the school district and institutions that allowed the transgender athletes to participate in women’s sports. Other priority investigations provide allegations of discrimination against white students or anti -Semitism.
As of last week, OCR has opened about 20 new studies throughout, a low amount compared to similar periods in previous years. For example, more than 250 new cases were opened last year.
For many years, OCR had the case of cases – when Trump took the position of Trump. Some have been open for more than a decade, which civil rights supporters failed to help students when they needed it.
About half of the expected investigations are related to students with disabilities who believe that they were severely treated or unfairly denied assistance at the school, according to the analysis of the propublica department.
Investigators conducted about 3,200 active complaints about racial discrimination, including unfair discipline and racial harassment. The analysis found that an additional about 1000 complaints were characteristic of sexual harassment or sexual abuse. The rest concerns a number of discrimination requirements.
Ignoring or an attack on disability rights “would be politically unpopular,” said Harold Jordan of the US Union of Civil Liberties, which is working on education justice across the country. “They do not want them to be seen as an shutdown of all disability claims,” he said.
But complaints are usually studied by OCR, many related discrimination of color students, do not meet the priority of Trump on racial prejudice, which are still associated with prejudice against white students.
“They will collect racing cases where people file is essentially return complaints about discrimination,” Jordan said.
In fact, OCR decided this month that it would investigate the complaint filed in August with a flat defense project, a conservative non -profit organization that claims the summit. The Biden administration did not operate on the complaint, but within a few days the heads of the new education departments decided that the agency would continue the investigation.
The Thursday’s note also included a “revised” management, which details how the investigation will be and resolved complaints claiming violations of the law on civil rights. During the previous administration, the investigators had the powers to open “systemic” requests when there were evidence of extensive civil rights issues or numerous complaints about the same type of discrimination in the school district or college. It seems that this ability to launch wider investigations has been deprived of Trump; The new leadership does not mention system studies.
Guide also no longer includes gender neutral links; People who claim violations of “their” rights were replaced by “his or her” in the updated version of Trump. This corresponds to its recent policy against transgenders and its opinion that there are only two hollows.
Changes to OCR come when Trump called the Conservative Education Department and is expected to make the executive order that demonstrates it. Last week, Coach told schools and colleges What they have two weeks to eliminate dew as a factor of admission, financial assistance, hiring and training or risk of losing federal financing.
“Under any flag, discrimination based on race, color or national origin was and will remain illegal,” the coach wrote.
In the past two weeks, Trump Administration has stopped contracts totaling hundreds of millions This was mainly focused on educational research and the country’s training and school data. Cuts were made by freedom Elona crew Elon MuskKnown as the Department of Government Efficiency, which states that it also ended with dozens of educational grants for educators who considered it wasteful.
But the latest cancellations of the contracts advertised by the Musk team as deprivation Sharply completed the services For some students with disabilities.
