U.S. Education Department launches civil rights investigation into Green Bay School District
'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@gannett.com or on X at @nadiaascharf.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: Federal civil rights investigation launched into Green Bay Schools
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USA Today
7 hours ago
- USA Today
Farmers are facing a fork on Trump's immigration highway. So what's next?
Farmers say few native–born residents will pick fruit or tend cows. The agriculture worker visa program can be costly, burdensome and limited. And they say Congress has failed to act for years. For Candice Lyall, cherry harvest is always a race against the clock. Eastern Washington is famous for its cherries, and in the fourth-generation farmer's lush orchards, not far from Columbia River, there's just a short window when they are the perfect ripeness. Wait too long and they are too soft for sale. And they must be picked by hand. Lots of them. Finding those hands locally can be a challenge. Like other growers, some of her workers are foreign-born, whose presence is reflected in the Hispanic restaurants in the nearby 3,300-resident town of Mattawa. But this summer the harvest coincided with President Donald Trump's mass deportation sweeps. Rumors swirled of roadway checkpoints. More than 100 workers who started Lyall's harvest dwindled to 30 by the second week, leading her farm to struggle to get cherries picked in time. Some were picked too late, she said, but the financial hit to her farm was likely to be far less than what some other growers experienced. 'There's a lot of farms that didn't pick because they didn't have enough labor,' she said. Lyall is a Trump supporter in a conservative farming region. She favors stricter border security because of worries of drug cartels. But she wants to see a path toward a stable workforce. 'There needs to be some solutions put on the table,' Lyall told USA TODAY. Across the country, Trump's immigration raids have roiled farms and farming communities – with cases of worker shortages and fears of unpicked crops. And it has fueled growing calls for the Trump administration to protect agricultural workers critical to the U.S. food supply. Of the 2.6 million people working on U.S. farms, about 42% lack legal status, according to the Department of Agriculture and other estimates. Farmers say few native–born residents will pick fruit or tend cows. The country's foreign agriculture worker visa program can be costly, burdensome and limited. And farmers say Congress has failed for decades to pass comprehensive immigration reforms. Those long-standing struggles are now compounded by the lurking presence of Trump's masked immigration forces as harvest season approaches or is underway. Earlier this month, raids on farms in California left hundreds detained, and soon after, a group of farmworkers in California held a three-day strike and called for boycotts. At stake are potential disruptions to the U.S. food supply and higher consumer costs. 'Farm employers are holding their breath, trying to keep operations afloat without knowing whether their workforce will show up tomorrow — or stay away for fear of a raid,' said Ben Tindall, head of the Save Family Farming advocacy group, based in Washington state. The Trump administration in June suspended farm enforcement but then reversed that decision. More recently, Trump has cited the importance of farm labor and said his administration would look into ways for farmworkers to 'be here legally, they can pay taxes and everything.' Other administration officials, including border czar Tom Holman, said there would be no 'amnesty' but cited ongoing discussions about policy changes related to farmworkers. A bill in Congress would create a legal pathway for longtime workers and streamline worker visas. The push for changes comes amid signs of a shift in public attitudes reflected in a recent Gallup poll that found a record-high of 79% of U.S. adults say immigration is good for the country, while only 35% said they approve of Trump's handling of the issue. Manuel Cunha, the president of the Nisei Farmers League, which represents 500 farmers employing about 75,000 California farmworkers, said he's hopeful that policies will change. For now, he said, workers in places like the San Joaquin Valley are holding steady despite raids that have caused temporary shortages. Still, farmers are on edge, knowing it could change at any moment. Why foreign-born workers are critical to farmers In Lincoln County, Wisconsin, where the rural landscape of pastures and fields is dotted with barns and silos, Hans Breitenmoser's parents emigrated here in 1968 from Switzerland to raise dairy cows on a small farm. He grew up amid the daily rhythms of feeding and milking. When the farm grew, they had to hire more workers. But they could find few native-born residents willing to take the jobs in the sparsely populated area. And over time, fewer younger people were sticking around the farms. Now, the 56-year-old relies on about a dozen foreign-born workers, mostly from Mexico, to operate the 460-cow farm, not far from a shuttered church with peeling paint about five miles outside a town of 9,000 residents. 'If it wouldn't be for immigrants, my dairy farm wouldn't run,' he said. In recent months, dairy farms in Texas reported absenteeism while ICE has detained or deported people at dairy farms in New York and Vermont, where one Trump-voting farmer told a news outlet he didn't think deportations would impact the industry's workers. Dairies are particularly vulnerable to labor shortages because cows need daily care to survive, Brietenmoser said, and cannot be temporarily shut down like a construction site or restaurant. 'Am I concerned about it? Absolutely,' said Breitenmoser, who said he was among a minority in Lincoln County who did not support Trump in 2024. 'They don't get fed and they don't get watered, and they don't get milked and they don't get cleaned up after, they will die.' Across the nation today, about 70% of workers in the U.S. farm sector are foreign born, according to the Federal Reserve of Kansas City. The National Milk Producers Federation says milk prices could nearly double if the U.S. dairy industry loses its foreign-born workforce, the group said. 'The uncertainty that undergirds agricultural labor and immigration in the U.S. continues to harm workers and their families, farm employers, rural communities and national food security,' according to the federation. Farmers typically hire workers with documentation such as Social Security cards or permits the government says must 'reasonably appear to be genuine.' The government's E-Verify system, required in some places, isn't foolproof. Breitenmoser argues Trump's political rhetoric painting immigrants as criminals and invaders, when most are workers filling jobs no one else will, is a self-defeating strategy. 'We've built an economy that relies on people, but we have a public policy that demonizes them. And to my way of thinking that just doesn't make any sense,' he said. 'American farming cannot survive without foreign-born staff.' The dairy farmer noted that 'we had immigration reform in front of the Congress prior to the election, but because all of the Republicans were scared of Donald Trump, it didn't happen.' The solution, he said, is 'stupid simple:' Accept the realities of farm labor. Hand out more work visas. And create pathways to vet longtime workers who need legal work permits. He hopes the recent turmoil will lead to long-needed changes. 'Somebody's going to drive through McDonald's to buy a freaking latte and a hamburger. And guess where that comes from? It comes from my farm. And it doesn't happen magically. It takes human beings, be they brown, Black, White, green or otherwise, to get the job done,' he said. 'And that's what our public policy should reflect.' Workers face stains, worry In a Colorado agricultural area northeast of Denver, Maria has worked in fields of watermelon, pumpkins and tomatoes for years. But not now. The 56-year-old, who didn't want to use her full name because she doesn't have legal status, emigrated from Chihuahua, Mexico 20 years ago to escape violence and find better pay. Jobs on farms are hot, grueling and physically challenging. But some farmworkers can earn in one hour what they'd make in a full day back in Mexico. She said she sees an ICE presence in her part of Colorado. One friend's brother was detained on the street earlier this year. Her husband is still working in a dairy to make ends meet, but she said some farms have had to look for workers out of state. For now they want to stick it out. Their lives are here. They have children and U.S. citizen grandchildren who live in the United States and are concerned about them. 'There's a lot of anxiety about, you know, grandmother, are they going to take you away?' she said. Many have reluctantly returned to work after raids that have taken place in places like California's San Joaquin Valley for financial reasons, said Teresa Romero, head of United Farm Workers. 'It is a little misconception, assuming that workers are not going back to work. Some workers are, of course, scared of what could happen,' she said. 'They might be scared for a day or so, but they go back to work. They need their jobs and they need to support their families.' Romero said the crackdown is also impacting the communities in which they live and work. Many are staying inside and not going to parks, school functions, churches and restaurants. In raids earlier this month at cannabis farms in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties, immigration agents descended on Glass House Farms near Camarillo and in Carpinteria. They clashed with protesters and detained more than 200 farmworkers. A Mexican farmworker, Jaime Alanís Garcia, 57, died after falling from a greenhouse roof he'd climbed atop in an alleged attempt to evade officers, according to multiple reports, 'The farmworkers detained in these raids are clearly in the United States to fill jobs that employers cannot otherwise fill,' U.S. Rep. Julia Brownley, D-Thousand Oaks, said in a letter to federal officials. 'Their undocumented status is not by choice, but a direct result of Congress' ongoing failure to pass comprehensive immigration reform that would allow a sufficient number of workers into the country and provide a viable pathway to citizenship.' That's what Gabriel, a 42-year-old from Puebla, Mexico, who didn't want to use his name because he lacks legal status and fears detention, would like to see, too. The farmwork in California's Central Valley has lived in the U.S. for 25 years. He has worked in fields of crops from eggplant to pumpkin, waking up at 4 a.m. and earning $16.50 an hour. He said the majority of his fellow workers are also immigrants without papers and are still working, but some are considering going home. He blames past and current administrations for failing to deliver on immigration reform. He said some longtime workers were angry at former President Joe Biden for enacting more legal pathways to migrate and not focusing on legalizing the status of longtime workers. 'Let workers work,' he said. 'These are people who help feed the country and pay taxes.' Even legally present farmworkers are uneasy. ICE officials have argued they don't need probable cause to detain people and the agency could deport people with just six hours' notice. Maurico Sol, an H-2A worker who supervises dozens of fellow visa holders on a farm that spans Idaho and Oregon, said some colleagues have asked if it's safe to go to Walmart on weekends. He advised them to always carry their passport and visa. 'I've also heard people that say, well, maybe this is going to be my last year,' he said. 'Because it feels different … Even when we are in a good space here, where it's not happening a lot, you feel like, eh, we don't know. We don't want to go out. Because maybe they're going to confuse me if they see me in the mall and I'm going to be chained for, I don't know, 48 hours, or maybe they're going to deport me even though I have papers.' A search for a solution Sol works for Shay Myers, a farmer whose onions grow in fields not far from where the Snake River separates Oregon and Idaho. The third-generation farmer operates Owyhee Produce, which grows one in every 20 onions consumed in America. Myers, 45, is also TikTok influencer with 692,000 followers and posts videos about his farm and the intricacies of agriculture. But lately the Republican farmer has been highlighting his mostly foreign-born laborers – from Mexico, Central America, Peru and Colombia – who he says are critical. The majority of his workers, which can number 350 during harvests, are here on H-2A visas. While such workers represent about 13% of the nation's farmworkers, the number of certified H-2A workers grew by 64.7% between 2017 and 2022. Meanwhile, the share of unauthorized workers has dropped to about 42% from from 55% in 2001. But it's also a bureaucratic and expensive program, he said. Farmers have to prove no domestic workers are available or willing to do the job. They provide housing and adhere to wage-premiums meant to keep the program from pushing down wages of U.S. residents who do similar jobs, and must follow rules such as overtime that differ among states. And it's time-limited. Immigrant Workers Are Essential. #foryou #fyp #foryoupage #farmlife #farm #farming Labor groups also criticize the H-2A visa program, saying it often requires workers to stick with one employer which makes them vulnerable to wage theft or poor housing. Myers said that's not the case at his farm. He grew up and went to school in the area with undocumented families. And today his children do, too. 'We lose from every angle. The right-wingers come at us … 'You won't give jobs to Americans,' Myers said. 'And then the left wing side of the discussion is, well, all you do is bring H-2A workers and they work for you like slaves.' He, too, wants a more flexible worker program and creating a path to legal status for undocumented workers here for 10 years and longer. He said the deportations have proved a problem both ethically for farm families and economically for the industry. 'Let's find a solution,' he said on one video. Earlier this month, Trump suggested in Iowa – a leading corn and pork producer that relies heavily on migrant workers – that his administration would seek to permit some migrants without legal status to stay on farms, the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, reported. "If a farmer's willing to vouch for these people, in some way, Kristi, I think we're going to have to just say that's going to be good, right?" he said, referencing Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem who was with him on the Iowa trip. "You know, we're going to be good with it. Because we don't want to do it where we take all of the workers off the farms. We want the farms to do great like they're doing right now." U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins cited plans to make the H-2A program 'cheaper, more efficient and more effective for those farmers.' The United Farm Workers favors paths to legal status for those already here over simply expanding the guestworker program for new arrivals, who they say would still be more prone to labor abuses. In Congress, Republican U.S. Reps. María Elvira Salazar of Florida, and Veronica Escobar of Texas introduced the DIGNITY Act. Among its many provisions is a seven-year earned legal status program allowing undocumented immigrants to live and work legally, with renewable status based on good conduct and restitution. "We have 10 million people or more working in construction, hospitality, agriculture, dairy, fisheries, slaughterhouses who are undocumented but are not criminals," Salazar said at a news conference. But House Speaker Mike Johnson told the Wall Street Journal that immigration overhauls would face an uphill battle. Rollins has also suggested that the country could fill jobs with Americans who will face Medicaid work requirements, something farmers immediately shot down. Farming groups call for realism Cunha, head of Nisei Farmers League, was among those very blunt about that idea: 'That's just not going to work,' he said. He knows firsthand. In 1998, during President Bill Clinton's Welfare-to-Work push, Cunha helped launch an effort in 10 California counties to recruit welfare recipients and unemployed workers to help fill tens of thousands of farmworker jobs. People would be aided with child care, transportation and training. Just 500 people applied. And only three took jobs. None of them lasted more than two days, he said. Crops were lost. 'It was a total disaster,' he said. A similar result took place in North Carolina, according to a 2013 report by the Partnership for a New American Economy and the Center for Global Development. When North Carolina had more than 489,000 unemployed residents, a growers association offered 6,500 jobs. Of 245 domestic workers hired, only seven lasted the entire season. It's not likely he contended that higher wages alone would have Americans flocking to the jobs, he argued. Not only can the work be physically grueling or dangerous, Cunha said it is not the unskilled work that many people assume. It takes experience and skill to prune a fruit tree or know which fruits to pick now and which to return for later. At a recent farm training in California that included topics like heat illness, Cunha said workers instead were full of questions about avoiding run-ins with ICE. Should they drive different routes or not wear hats and bandanas? One asked if he should shave his beard to look less like a farmworker. For now, he said, as the area's remaining harvests are closing in, it's stressful for both farmers and farmworkers. 'Labor is tight, but it's holding. And as long as – we pray every day – they stay out of the valley, then we'll make it through this season,' he said. 'But we do need to deal with it. We should not have to go through this type of tension. And workers should not have to worry about shaving their beard.'
Yahoo
7 hours ago
- Yahoo
University of Edinburgh profited from slavery and promoted racist pseudoscience
An inquiry into the University of Edinburgh has found it played an outsized role in the creation of racist pseudoscience and greatly profited from transatlantic slavery. It also found that the institution had not engaged meaningfully with students and staff concerned about its ties to Israel, and that students and staff experiencing racism tended not to report it. A report entitled Decolonised Transformations: Confronting the University of Edinburgh's History and Legacies of Enslavement and Colonialism found that the institution raised the equivalent of at least £30million today from slavery and empire linked sources, with the value potentially over £800m if measured by 'Relative Output' which measures the amount of income or wealth relative to the total output of the economy. It found that: "The University of Edinburgh was a haven for professors and alumni who developed theories of racial inferiority and white supremacism, such as the idea that Africans were inferior to whites and that non-white peoples could be colonised for the profit of European nations. Read More: We visit the University of Edinburgh student encampment protesting for Palestine University of Edinburgh principal defends pay despite plans for £140m cuts LIVE: Donald Trump in Scotland as President spends second day at Turnberry "These ideas provided powerful intellectual justifications for enslavement and colonialism and underpinned the rapid expansion of European empires around the world. "University of Edinburgh professors and alumni played an outsized role in developing racial pseudo-sciences that created civilisational hierarchies and habitually positioned Black people at the bottom and white people at the top. "These ideas also provided the basis for British ethnology. Examples include Adam Ferguson, Dugald Stewart, David Hume, James Cowle Prichard, Robert Knox and Arthur James Balfour who, through research and teaching, proliferated racist ideas against African, Asian, Middle Eastern and other non-European peoples that underpinned enslavement and colonialism." In a modern context, the report found many students and staff from racial minorities face ongoing racism, with reporting systems 'potentially inadequate' as these did not tend to be reported. The report also made reference to the Balfour Declaration, the letter from British foreign secretary and chancellor of the University of [[Edinburgh]] to Lord Rothschild favouring the creation of a "national home for the Jewish people" in Palestine. The UK Government had pledged to recognise Arab independence in the region in exchange for support against the Ottoman Empire in the First World War, and had also secretly agreed with France to divide what was then Ottoman Syria between the two nations. A protest at the University of Edinburgh (Image: Newsquest) Following the war, British Mandatory Palestine was established and eventually partitioned to create modern day Israel and Palestine. The report said: "One of the University's longest serving Chancellors, Arthur James Balfour (1891–1930), played a unique role in establishing and maintaining a century-long process of imperial and settler-colonial rule in Palestine through the 1917 Balfour Declaration. "This Declaration led to the partitioning of Palestine and the permanent exile of many Palestinians from their homeland. "Balfour assumed race to be a social and biological fact and upheld the right of white Europeans to govern and dominate non-Europeans. This racist view directly affected his attitude towards his governance of imperial and domestic affairs. "The University of Edinburgh continues to be entangled in the historical harms that Balfour instigated through its direct and indirect investments that are supporting the Israeli government's human rights and international law violations against Palestinian people today." Students currently enrolled at the University have protested about the institution's ties to [[Israel]] in the context of its ongoing occupation of Gaza and the West Bank, and it's military operations in the former. The report said: "To date, the University of Edinburgh's senior leadership team and Court have not demonstrated sufficient direct engagement with the requests emerging from one of the most well-supported community mobilisations in the history of the University. "Importantly, this mobilisation is comparable to the successful divestment campaign that took place in the 1970s from another apartheid state, South Africa. In 1971, the University of Edinburgh listened to students and staff, and after intense protests it sold all its investments complicit with apartheid. 148 But in the case of Palestine, the senior leadership team has deployed a 'conflict agnostic' approach, a term that denies the Nakba and its settler-colonial afterlife. Read More: Horrifying images are clearly the tipping point for public outrage over Gaza SNP to force vote on recognising Palestine to coincide with UN summit Glasgow University accused of profiting from 'blood money' due to Gaza ties "This approach also means that the University of Edinburgh runs the risk of eluding due diligence and exposing itself to complicity with genocide, crimes against humanity and an illegal occupation." The report recommended that the University of Edinburgh de-adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism. The IHRA definition, which is used by most UK universities, includes 11 examples to support that definition, seven of which reference the state of Israel. Falling under its definition of antisemitism are "claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour", "applying double standards by requiring of it a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation", and "drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis". The University of Edinburgh report said: "The IHRA definition violates academic freedom and freedom of speech by framing any criticism of Israel's policies of settler-colonial dispossession driven by state racism as a form of antisemitism." The report further found that donations explicitly sought from slavers were used to help build the Old College on South Bridge in the 1790s and the old medical school near Bristo Square in the 1870s. The university had at least 15 endowments derived from African enslavement and 12 linked to British colonialism in India, Singapore and South Africa, and 10 of those were still active and had a minimum value today of £9.4m. It currently has close to 300 skulls gathered in the 1800s from enslaved and dispossessed people adherents of phrenology, a racist pseudoscience which holds that intelligence can be determined by skull shape. University Principal and Vice-Chancellor, Professor Sir Peter Mathieson said: "The publication of the University of Edinburgh's Race Review is a landmark moment in this ancient institution's willingness and determination to learn from its past, as well as its present, in order to shape its future. "The University of Edinburgh acknowledges its role not only in profiting materially from practices and systems that caused so much suffering but also in contributing to the production and perpetuation of racialised thought which significantly impacted ethnically and racially minoritised communities. "On behalf of the institution, I extend our deepest apologies to all individuals and communities impacted by the legacies of our connections to enslavement and colonialism. "We cannot have selective memory about our past, focusing only on the historical achievements which make us feel proud. We are right to address its complexities too, and learn from those aspects which are highly challenging to confront. Only by fully engaging with and understanding the entirety of our institutional past can we truly learn and move forward. We are unwavering in our commitment to a future where racism, racial discrimination, and racialised inequalities have no place in higher education or society. The findings of the Race Review will help to inform our evolving policies and practices as we design a University fit for the future. "Our institutional vision embodies a proactive approach to fostering an environment of racial equality and justice, through our research, teaching, improved institutional practices and community engagement. We will also continue to strengthen our global partnerships, recognising that we do not have all of the answers ourselves and that building progressive, consultative and equitable relationships is crucial. "I am deeply grateful to everyone that contributed to the University of Edinburgh's Race Review, and in particular to Professor Tommy Curry, Dr Nicola Frith and Chris Cox who led the various sections, to community members for their active involvement in discussions and workshops and also to the Steering Group chaired originally by Sir Geoff Palmer: Geoff sadly died in June 2025 but he had seen the draft report and he and I reflected together on the importance of this work, and its legacy, very shortly before his death. We will honour his memory through our ongoing commitment and contribution to advancing race equality within our institution and in society more broadly. "
New York Times
7 hours ago
- New York Times
You May Not Be Trump's Target This Time. But You Could Be Next.
President Trump's actions targeting law firms, judges, media organizations, universities and labor unions have demonstrated a norm-shattering zeal for retribution and punishment of anyone who may disagree with his policies. Now, nonprofit organizations are up. An executive order directed every federal agency to send the White House targets for investigation that include large nonprofit corporations or associations and foundations with assets of $500 million or more. The Department of Government Efficiency tried to assign a team to an independent nonprofit organization that had criticized the Trump administration's mass deportation policies. Last month, a congressional committee launched a probe into over 200 nonprofit organizations, including the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and dozens of religious institutions, without basis or evidence of wrongdoing. And over the last few weeks, the president's allies in the House have held multiple hearings with such titles as 'Public Funds, Private Agendas: NGOs Gone Wild.' These hearings protested the work of organizations that provide services to vulnerable communities and seek to uphold the Constitution and the rule of law. All of this suggests a bigger, more fundamental goal: to shut down debate, cut off services to disfavored communities and dismantle civil society. These actions are unconstitutional, un-American and harm us all. This latest assault comes at a moment when we need civil society to fill the breach left by a government in retreat from its role in providing humanitarian assistance, asserting global leadership, fighting climate change, safeguarding public health, funding scientific research, expanding economic opportunity, protecting civil rights and supporting immigrants and the poor. And crucially, because civil society organizations exist outside of government, we rely on them to fight official abuses of power. That of course is exactly why they make such a fine target for the president. Civil society groups ensure that our government, no matter who is in power, is accountable to the law and to our Constitution. I know this from having sued Democratic and Republican administrations as a lawyer working at nonprofit organizations, as well as from having defended the government as a Justice Department official. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
