Wisconsin school tells mom her daughter is not “protected from discrimination” because she is white

When a Wisconsin mother filed a complaint with her local school district alleging that her daughter was the victim of racial discrimination, the mother received a shocking response: her white daughter isn’t protected.

The message came from Elmbrook Schools assistant superintendent Tanya Fredrich, who said, “The student is not a member of any class that is legally protected from discrimination by state or federal law.”

The Daily Caller obtained the message and reported on the incident.

A letter sent to the district by the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty (WILL) blasts the district for asserting that “race discrimination laws do not apply to white students.”

“Not only is this both legally and factually wrong, but it is frankly shocking that a public educational institution could hold such a view,” the letter reads. “There is no such thing as a ‘protected class’ in the sense that some races are protected while others are not. … Black and brown students do not have different rights; they have identical rights to white students and must be treated identically to white students.”

Fredrich’s message to the mother also said, “[T]he student’s race, sexual orientation and socio-economic status are what are considered to be the majority status and thus do not form a basis for claiming that the student is being treated or has been treated less favorably than persons not in the protected class.”

“They think there’s something called protected classes, where only certain people are in protected classes and that there’s also a majority class that does not benefit from these protections,” WILL deputy counsel Daniel P. Lennington told the Daily Caller. “That is not what the law is.” 

In a response to the WILL letter, Elmbrook Schools admitted it could have been clearer on its language to the parent, but also suggested it was misconstrued. Elmbrook Schools says the district “does not tolerate discrimination on the basis of race or any other protected class” and “all racial groups are members of protected classes and treated equally.”

Lennington noted the district “now publicly recognizes that nondiscrimination laws apply to all students, despite their clear and unequivocal language to the contrary in the report.”