A Wisconsin mother has accused her dyslexic son’s school of denying him extra support because he is white.
Colbey Decker said the Green Bay Area School district is discriminating against her child by prioritizing racial minority students for access to special education.
According to The TelegraphMs. Decker said in a letter last week threatening legal action that her son, who is in the fourth grade, was denied access to his school’s literacy program for nearly a year because he was not part of a racial minority.
That’s because her son’s school, Green Bay’s King Elementary, has a policy that allocates extra resources to students based on their race. This means that if Ms. Decker’s son had been black, Hispanic or First Nation, he would have already received sufficient support.
The Wisconsin school board has launched an internal investigation following Ms. Decker’s claim.
Ms. Decker’s son was diagnosed with dyslexia in 2022, and she sought additional support for him shortly after he enrolled in the school district earlier this year.
Although she provided the necessary paperwork for the reading interventions she requested, Ms. Decker alleged that her son was placed on a waiting list for a reading group program that did not meet her son’s needs.
According to an excerpt from Green Bay’s King Elementary, one of the school’s priorities is to provide “additional resources to First Nations, Black and Hispanic students.”
A Wisconsin mother has accused her dyslexic son’s school of denying him extra support because he is white
Image of King Elementary School in Green Bay
Speaking to the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, the counsel helping the mother prepare legal action, Ms. Decker said, “He is being excluded from services for higher-achieving children.
“I couldn’t believe that someone would actually deny services because of the color of someone’s skin,” she added.
According to the Wisconsin Institute for Law & Liberty, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race.
“I never thought we could look at a child today and say, ‘Sorry you’re not getting reading support because we’re going to give it to someone else,’” Ms. Decker said.
“Any time a child is delayed in receiving services, it affects the rest of their life because I can’t get that time back.”
“It’s my job as a mother to stand up for my children.”
“I would like to see the Green Bay School District adopt a policy where it is completely color blind and provides services to anyone who needs help,” Ms. Decker added.
DailyMail.com reached out to the Green Bay Area Public School District for comment.