Wisconsin district closes thriving STEM charter because it had too many white students, legal group claims

A Wisconsin school district is in hot water for closing a successful STEM charter for the alleged purpose of “racial balancing.”

The Wauwatosa School District (WSD) board voted on Monday to close a STEM charter school – called WSTEM – despite parental objections and warnings the action could be unconstitutional.

“This program is a success,” said Stephen Mayer, whose grandson attends the charter. “From everything I’ve heard and every person I’ve talked to, it’s a success.

“They shouldn’t shut it down. They should expand it.”

WSTEM has much higher ratings than the Wauwatosa district overall. 

According to recent state reports, WSD is given a score of 72.3, with reading and math achievement in the low 70s. 

In comparison, WSTEM has a score of 93.8, with near-perfect achievement in reading and math. 

But WSD Superintendent Demond Means wants to eliminate WSTEM in favor of a new “STEM for All” agenda – even though he admits the move is more about optics and feelings than academics. 

“We’re creating a platform that makes some kids feel less than and some kids that feel greater than,” Means said. 

Parents wondered why WSTEM couldn’t be included in the new agenda.  

“We all agree that STEM learning needs to be a part of every child’s education,” said another parent. “However, by shutting down Wauwatosa’s existing STEM programs instead of leveraging them to build STEM for all, I fear there are big promises being made with extraordinary costs.” 

Additionally, one legal group alleges WSD’s real motivations were racially discriminatory.  

In a letter sent to the district on Oct. 22, the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) alleged WSD’s real problem with the STEM charter was its lack of racial diversity. 

“You view higher populations of white students in any given program or school as a negative factor that must be corrected,” the letter reads. “Race-based decision-making like this violates the constitutional guarantees of equal protection. 

“Time and time again, the U.S. Supreme Court has emphasized that racial balancing for its own sake is automatically unconstitutional.” 

WILL said it was “prepared to bring a civil action to enforce the constitutional rights of Wauwatosa students and families” as well as file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education. 

It also submitted a public records request for any conversations between Superintendent Means and the district’s DEI director LaShawnda Holland about the racial makeup of district and any school board communication about diversity or racial balancing. 

“Around the country, woke school boards are closing schools and shifting programs because they don’t like the racial makeup,” said WILL’s deputy counsel Dan Lennington. “This is illegal and immoral race discrimination. [Wauwatosa] should resist this plan or face the consequences.”