CATEGORY:
Private Education Matters
CLIENT TYPE:
Private Education
DATE: Apr 04, 2025
- Oklahoma City Public Schools has agreed to pay $60,000 to former music teacher Michael McCullough to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), which alleged the district violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA) by failing to renew his contract after he took leave for U.S. Air Force Reserve service. The consent decree requires the district to update its military leave policies, provide annual training to administrators, and post notices informing employees of their USERRA rights. The district must also submit quarterly reports to the DOJ detailing military leave requests and complaints of discrimination.
- A lawsuit has been filed against the University of California (UC) system and the U.S. Department of Education by a prospective student, his father, and Students Who Oppose Racial Discrimination (SWORD), alleging racial discrimination in UC’s admissions process. The plaintiffs claim that high-achieving Asian-American students are systematically disadvantaged due to UC’s admissions policies, which they argue prioritize racial balancing over merit. Despite the prospective student’s exceptional academic and professional achievements—including a near-perfect SAT score, a 4.42 GPA, and a job offer from Google for a Ph.D.-level engineering position—his applications to five UC campuses were rejected or waitlisted. The complaint asserts that UC’s policies violate the Fourteenth Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and the California Constitution’s ban on race-based admissions. Additionally, the plaintiffs argue that the U.S. Department of Education’s race-based federal grant programs encourage unlawful racial preferences in admissions.
- The Ohio Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s decision granting summary judgment in favor of the Sylvania City School District. Jennifer Swiech, a parent who sends her children to a private Catholic school, sued the district, arguing its bus transportation policy violated equal protection and free exercise of religion under the Ohio Constitution. Due to a bus driver shortage, the district moved private school students to a hub-and-spoke transportation model rather than direct bussing. The Court of Appeals ruled that the policy was rationally related to a legitimate government interest in transportation efficiency and did not target religion since all nonpublic school students, regardless of religious affiliation, were treated the same. The Court of Appeals also found no evidence that the policy coerced religious practice. As a result, Swiech’s claims were rejected, and her request for relief was denied. LCW covered this case previously.
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