U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO INVESTIGATE TITLE VI COMPLAINT AGAINST WAKE COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION

The U.S. Department of Education has decided to investigate allegations of unlawful racial discrimination against the Wake County School Board and the Wake County Public School System in response to a Title VI complaint filed in September by several public interest organizations and a local high school student.  The complaint alleges that the Board engaged in intentional discrimination on the basis of race when it made certain student reassignments on April 6, 2010.  The complaint also alleges that the disciplinary policies and practices employed by the school system -- particularly long term suspensions -- have a disproportionate and discriminatory impact on students on the basis of race.  The Department of Education will investigate both allegations.  Each year, federal administrative agencies receive thousands of complaints, but investigate very few.

Blue Stephens & Fellers LLP serves as co-counsel to the complainants, along with attorneys from the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, UNC Center for Civil Rights, North Carolina Justice Center, and North Carolina State Conference of Branches of the NAACP.