Latest news with #CraigTrainor
Yahoo
04-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Federal Title IX investigations now include Canton, Bloomfield
CONNECTICUT (WTNH) — As of Wednesday, the Trump administration is investigating at least three school districts in regards to their Title IX policies and how they apply to transgender athletes. Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination in education programs and activities that receive federal funding. The administration is investigating whether the school districts violated federal law by possibly allowing transgender students to participate in sports not matching their biological sex. Cromwell Board of Ed ponders next steps amid Title IX investigation Officials with the Connecticut Department of Education confirmed letters were issued to Canton, Bloomfield, and Cromwell school districts. They said the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services' Office for Civil Rights sends the notices directly to the districts, so the department does not have their own copies. However, Cromwell school leaders shared the letter they received. 'OCR's directed investigation will examine whether Cromwell Public Schools denies equal athletic benefits and opportunities to female student athletes through general or athletics-specific participation policy(s) that permit, direct, instruct, or require its schools to allow males to participate in girls' interscholastic athletics, thereby depriving girls and young women of equal athletic opportunities,' Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor said in the notice. Read the full letter issued to Cromwell Superintendent Dr. Enza Macri below. Cromwell-Schools-letterDownload The Cromwell mayor also commented on it publicly. He said if found in violation, nearly a million dollars in federal funding is at risk. 'The Cromwell Board of Education is following all applicable state and federal law as well as the rules for the Connecticut Interscholastic Athletic Conference (CIAC). Should Cromwell exclude transgender athletes, it will be ineligible for any CIAC sport,' Mayor James Demetriades said in a written statement on Facebook. News 8 has reached out to Canton and Bloomfield representatives for comment. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
United States Department of Education opens disability discrimination investigation into Green Bay Area Public School District
(WFRV) – The United States Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced on Wednesday that it is opening a Title VI and disability-discrimination investigation into the Green Bay Area Public School District. A release from the Department of Education's OCR said the investigation is based on a complaint from the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty. The complaint alleges that the Green Bay Area Public School District discriminated against a student with dyslexia based on their race. Groups gather outside Senator Ron Johnson's Oshkosh office to voice concerns over possible Medicaid & Medicare cutsA According to the release, the complaint specifically alleged that the District prioritizes its special education services to students based on racial priority groups. The complaint also said that the student in question did not fall into the group because he is white, the OCR release said. The complaint continues, alleging that the District 'discriminated against the student based on disability and failed to provide timely and adequate special education services.' The statement below is from the Department of Education's press release: 'In America, we do not 'prioritize' students for educational access, nor do we judge their worth, on the basis of skin color. Schools must provide special needs students access to supportive educational resources on an equal footing and on the basis of need, not on the basis of race. The Trump-McMahon Education Department rejects the false and patronizing idea that certain forms of discrimination are 'benign.' We will vigorously investigate this matter to ensure that the Green Bay Area Public School District is not discriminating against its students on the basis of race and disability.' Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor The statement below is from the press release, referring to the Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty: 'We are grateful to Secretary McMahon and the Office for Civil Rights for opening this investigation into Green Bay Area Public School District. It is heartbreaking to think that, in America, a school would consider whether or not to provide services to a disabled student based not on that student's need, but on the color his skin. This is not only unlawful – it is an affront to the character of the American people. We are proud to work alongside the Department of Education to hold schools accountable for their antidiscrimination obligations and to ensure that no student is denied their equal opportunity protections under the law.' Cory Brewer, Education Counsel at Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty Menasha school district negotiating to take over Fox Cities childcare center The full release can be viewed here. The official complaint is available here. Local 5 will provide updates on this situation as needed. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
U.S. Education Department launches civil rights investigation into Green Bay School District
The U.S. Education Department's Office of Civil Rights has launched an investigation into the Green Bay School District after a January complaint alleged an elementary school discriminated against a White student based on his race. 'In America, we do not 'prioritize' students for educational access, nor do we judge their worth, on the basis of skin color. Schools must provide special needs students access to supportive educational resources on an equal footing and on the basis of need, not on the basis of race,' acting assistant secretary for civil rights Craig Trainor said in a May 28 news release. In the complaint, the law firm Wisconsin Institute for Law and Liberty alleged the district discriminated against Green Bay King Elementary parent Colby Decker's son by not providing him access to literacy resources because he was not a 'focus student,' which was defined as a First Nations, Black or Hispanic student in King's student success plan. The focus student language has since been changed. Decker's son has dyslexia, and she told WILL she requested he receive a one-on-one intervention. She said her son was put on a waiting list for reading interventions in April 2024 and was finally placed in a small group intervention last fall, which she said caused her son to fall behind. Decker and WILL allege the district violated Title VI, which prohibits racial and ethnic discrimination. The civil rights complaint also raised concerns about the way the district handled WILL's original complaint, saying the district's investigation was biased. The complaint also claimed the district didn't meet special education law needs relating to Decker's son's dyslexia, which they said would account for discrimination on the basis of disability. On May 28, OCR said it had opened a formal investigation into Green Bay based on the complaint. It will investigate whether the district violated Title VI, which prohibits racial and ethnic discrimination, and whether it failed to evaluate Decker's son as a student with disabilities, which it says is discrimination under federal law. "The district had many opportunities to change course and make clear it would be treating its students in a colorblind way, and they didn't do that," WILL legal counsel Cory Brewer said. "We really hope this investigation is eye-opening for the district, particularly for district leaders." Green Bay communications director Lori Blakeslee said the district hadn't yet received anything from OCR. Contact Green Bay education reporter Nadia Scharf at nscharf@ or on X at @nadiaascharf. This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Federal civil rights investigation launched into Green Bay Schools
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Dept. of Education opens Title IX investigation into Western Carolina Univ.
(WSPA) – The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has opened a Title IX investigation into Western Carolina University. The Department of Education announced the investigation Thursday, claiming that WCU has 'refused to comply with Title IX and to ensure sex-separated intimate spaces in federally funded institutions of higher education.' The department said that it received credible reports that WCU 'allowed a male to room with a female in a girls' dormitory' and that WCU 'opened an investigation against a female student for asking a male student to leave a female locker room.' The Department of Education cited a former student who said that the students involved in both incidents identified as transgender women. 'WCU's reported contempt for federal antidiscrimination laws and indifference to, and retaliation against, girls who have spoken up about males invading their intimate spaces is simply unacceptable,' said Craig Trainor, acting assistant secretary for civil rights. When reached for comment, a Western Carolina University acknowledged receiving notice of the investigation from the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights. 'We believe that our campus policies and procedures are compliant with Title IX and all other federal and state laws,' the university said in a statement. 'We will work with OCR to fully resolve this complaint.' Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 prohibits, with some exceptions, discrimination on the basis of sex involving any education program or activity receiving federal financial assistance. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Axios
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Axios
Where K-12 schools get the most federal revenue
U.S. K-12 public school systems got nearly $360 in federal revenue per person in fiscal 2023, per new census data. Why it matters: Federal funding for local school districts is on shaky ground as the Trump administration looks to cut spending broadly and to use the power of the purse to influence school curriculum and other decisions. Zoom in: School systems in Alaska ($846), North Dakota ($519) and Mississippi ($502) received the most revenue from federal sources per person in fiscal 2023. Utah ($220), Maine ($230) and New Hampshire ($234) received the least. The big picture: The U.S. Department of Education sent letters last month to state K-12 agencies requiring them to comply with the Trump administration's anti-DEI policies in order to maintain their federal funding. "When state education commissioners accept federal funds, they agree to abide by federal antidiscrimination requirements," Craig Trainor, the department's acting assistant secretary for civil rights, wrote at the time. "Unfortunately, we have seen too many schools flout or outright violate these obligations, including by using DEI programs to discriminate against one group of Americans to favor another based on identity characteristics." The latest: Multiple lawsuits have been filed over the administration's demands, as the New York Times reports.
