WASHINGTON (AP) — The education sector has withdrawn from agreements to address disparities in Native American student discipline in the South Dakota school system and says it is falsely rooted in efforts to promote diversity, equity and inclusion.
This decision reflects a change in interpretation of Discrimination prevention law It plans to review other agreements under President Donald Trump’s administration.
The issues that were a concern in the Rapid City District were strict discipline and access to advanced coursework. Native Studentswas less likely to be in a higher-level class than their white peers. A federal investigation found that native students were about four times more likely to be suspended than their white peers and were arrested.
Last month, the education department told the district it was closing its compliance review in a letter that the agreement violated civil rights law because the DEI was in its foundation.
Some parents who attended a listening session with the Civil Rights Office said they felt their efforts were in vain.
“Instead of restorative practices, the first thing to do at school is to call the police as a resource officer,” said Valeriah Big Eagle, parent of three children in the district and leader of the NDN Collective, an Indigenous advocacy group. “We know that the school-to-jail pipeline is authentic to our children, and the only way we can deal with it is to promote restorative practices.”
According to undergraduate officials, the education department has stepped back from the Rapid City case as it focused on racial balance and “microcontrolled” how the school trained students and appointed them as lawyers.
Other school contracts plan to deal with harassment and discrimination
Under Trump, the education department threatened to cut funds from schools that refused to denial Day, which he described as discriminatory and illegal. Civil Rights Bureau A hard hit with staff reductionin the meantime, prioritizes the survey. Anti-Semitism allegations.
The rollback of the South Dakota case reflects the department’s efforts to control school-level decisions on diversity initiatives, regardless of legal basis, said Michael Pirela, director of education equity issues for the Civil Rights Commission under the law.
“It feels unprecedented and extreme,” Pirela said.
The Trump administration has withdrawn one other civil rights resolution agreement with the school district, a case that includes a book that was removed from the Forsyth County School District Library in Georgia. However, department officials said they would review others.
The Civil Rights Bureau signs hundreds of resolution agreements per year with the district, including racial harassment, disproportionate discipline, disability discrimination, and gender discrimination. Corrective actions may be necessary, ranging from solving access issues for individual students with disabilities to a drastic audit of district-wide practices.
Liz King, senior director of the Education Equity Program at the Council for Leadership on Private and Human Rights, said the issues revealed at rapid city schools regarding disproportionate discipline and police have long been concerning about preventing discrimination against students of color.
“The question is, do you care what the effect of discrimination is?” the king said. “If we see them causing disproportionate harm to some student groups, we need to ask harsh questions about whether we can justify those policies.”
Rapid City School says reforms will continue, but some parents have doubts
The rapid city survey began in 2010 and was closed in 2024 under the Biden administration.
In an interview with federal investigators, the former principal said there was a high rate of school refusal in some Native American tribes that do not value education, and they would operate in “Indian time” and arrive late. The board fired her last summer for a faint-hearted statement.
In a statement, Cory Strasser, the district’s acting superintendent, said neither the board nor the district leader was involved in the decision to terminate the resolution agreement. He said the district had already done much of the work required by the resolution agreement, from training implicit bias to better tracking of discipline data. He said work will continue without federal oversight.
“These efforts have had a positive impact on all students,” Strasser said.
Some people in the community are worried that the district will not follow the recommendations themselves. Nick Tilsen, founder of Rapid City-based NDN Collective, said there was a flood of calls from parents and students involved.
“The agreement exists because the Rapid City Regional School Board must be responsible for implementing these provisions,” Thilsen said. “They don’t just say they’re doing it because the data shows they haven’t already implemented these things.”
Darren Thompson, the media relations director for the native nonprofit sacred Defense Fund, said it is the latest in a series of federal decisions that affect tribal citizens but do not seek input from the tribal community. He added that South Dakota’s Native American population is unique. Because many people have Indian surnames like “Black Elk” which can target them when they are seeking school or employment. ___
Colin Binkley, Associated Press Writer in Washington, contributed to the report. Raza reported from Sioux Falls, SD
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