Sartell-St. Stephens parents and Kids Over Politics 748 have retained lawyers with the Upper Midwest Law Center after the consulting group hired by the school district failed to release the contents of the equity audit. As reported by The Minnesota Sun, the Sartell-St. Stephens School District came under fire after a fourth-grader said her teacher told her to never repeat equity survey questions to her parents. The questions reportedly were on topics regarding sexuality, gender, and race.
Haylee’s mother, Kelsey Yasgar said in a comment to The Sun that the whole situation was upsetting to her.
“Asking my fourth-grader what gender she identifies with raises several concerns in my eyes. For starters, I do not believe politics have a place within our school district, and I do not think my daughter’s 4th-grade teacher has the right to explain a question like this without my approval,” Yasgar said. “I have instructed my daughter from a young age that if she’s ever in trouble or needs to speak to an adult, that she can always trust her teachers at school. What do I tell my daughter now, when these are the same people who are instructing her to lie and hide things from me? And it also poses the question, what else are you hiding from us?”
The school district ended the relationship with the consulting group, Equity Alliance Minnesota, after the nationwide criticism of the situation. Amanda Byrd, a school board member said it got “scammed.”
Byrd said, “They made promises that they didn’t keep and they didn’t give us the finished product that we were expecting.”
The district paid $80,000 of their COVID relief funds to Equity Alliance Minnesota and they are hoping to get some of the money back, citing its failure to finish the project as a reason. Superintendent Jeff Ridlehoover said that he recommended creating a “Community, Equity and Student Experience Committee composed of staff, parents, community members, and most importantly students” to replace the consulting group.
A letter written to Equity Alliance Minnesota from the Upper Midwest Law Center asks that they release the contents of the equity survey by August 13 or face legal action. The lawyer, James Dickey, said by failing to release the audit questions within 35 days of the original request, Equity Alliance Minnesota was in violation of the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act.
Kids Over Politics 748 said in a Facebook post it is “committed to pulling back the curtain that has been drawn by this school board so that the parents of Sartell can see clearly in the light what is being presented to their children at school.”
James Dickey, the lawyer representing the parents and group reportedly said, “Parents have a fundamental constitutional right to raise their kids as they see fit, and First Amendment rights do not stop at the schoolhouse gates. Our clients simply want the district to take responsibility for its actions and give them assurances that their kids won’t be subjected to this kind of illegal intrusion. If they don’t, our clients are ready to enforce their rights in Court.”
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Hayley Tschetter is a reporter with The Minnesota Sun | Star News Network. She graduated with a degree in Communications from the University of Northwestern-St. Paul. Send news tips to [email protected].
