Education Department Starts Addressing Discrimination Cases Related To COVID-19
After spending months failing to make meaningful progress on complaints of coronavirus-related discrimination in schools, the Education Department has started opening investigations into some of these allegations, HuffPost has learned, even though the department denies it has changed gears.
In November, HuffPost first reported that attorneys in the department’s Office for Civil Rights said they had not been able to move forward on these complaints. But at that time, a spokesperson for the Department of Education denied it had failed to make progress on the investigations.
“This information is categorically false and represents the viewpoint of a low-level employee who has not been fully informed or brought up to speed on the clear directive given by HQ to move forward on all COVID cases without delay,” spokesperson Angela Morabito told HuffPost in early November.
However, HuffPost had reviewed a September email from regional leadership sent to a group of employees explaining that discrimination complaints related to COVID-19 would require scrutiny from the highest levels of management in an effort to form a consistent response to unprecedented issues. This essentially left the cases in limbo, with attorneys unable to move forward.
Morabito now denies, though, that any change in processing the complaints has taken place, though some complaints seem to be moving forward on a case-by-case basis. There has not been official communication stating that the Department of Education changed its overall processing of these complaints, sources told HuffPost.
One DOE employee said that they just recently were given a greenlight to move ahead on COVID-19 cases. (HuffPost is providing anonymity for current employees out of concern they could face professional repercussions.)
Additionally, several families who work with disability rights advocate Marcie Lipsitt got word last month that their discrimination cases were moving forward. These families say that their...