Credit: Lasherica Thornton/ EdSource
The Californians for Equal Rights Foundation, a nonprofit targeting diversity, equity and inclusion programs in public education, is appealing the dismissal of its discrimination lawsuit against the Fresno Unified School District to the U.S. Court of Appeals.
The group’s February complaint accused the district’s Black student support initiative, formerly the African American Academic Acceleration department, or A4, of excluding non-Black students.
The appeal attempts to “reopen the courthouse doors and confirm that we have standing so we can end Fresno’s racially segregated programs,” Wilson Freeman, an attorney for the foundation, said in a statement to EdSource.
The group alleged in its original complaint that the district violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the California Constitution, claiming that Fresno Unified’s A4 programs “are designed, marketed, and promoted as only available to black students” and that even if parents “had learned about the A4 programs, they and their children are not made to feel welcome because of their race.”
A federal judge in August dismissed the lawsuit, stating that the group failed to establish key legal standards, including that the foundation’s allegations were generalized and speculative, not specific.
“The underlying legal issues remain,” said Mark Harris, an attorney for Fresno Unified.
No non-Black student was prevented from accessing A4 programs due to race or ethnicity, he said.
Still, Fresno Unified has renamed and restructured the department to Advancing Academic Acceleration & Achievement to prevent the Trump administration’s threats to cut funds to schools with race-based programs, as well as to better promote initiatives to the marginalized student groups that the department has served for years.
The district created A4 in 2017 to specifically address Black student underachievement in academics, but has served students from all marginalized racial and ethnic groups. A4 provides academic support programs for elementary students and offers enrichment camps, peer groups and academic and social-emotional support programs for middle and high school students.
Along with the name change, A4 will combine middle and high school support programs that were targeted for African American students into one narrowly focused program.
“Regardless of what we’re named, we still are going to be committed to providing supports for marginalized students,” A4 Executive Director Lisa Mitchell previously told EdSource.
What’s next?
Despite a name change, the foundation is appealing the lawsuit dismissal.
“In Students for Fair Admissions, the Supreme Court made clear that government officials cannot discriminate against children on the basis of their race in the name of equity or diversity, yet Fresno Unified is doing exactly that,” said Freeman, the attorney for the foundation. “All children deserve to be treated equally without regard for their immutable characteristics.”
The Students for Fair Admissions case was a 2023 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled policies considering race in admissions at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina were unlawful.
The Supreme Court case was not referenced in the original complaint but was included in a response about the lawsuit’s dismissal.
Moving forward in the appeal process, the foundation must comply with deadlines set by the appeals court, including a Jan. 7 due date for filing the appeal.
“Unfortunately, it’s a laborious process,” said Harris, the district’s attorney.
But the district is optimistic.
“We expect to defeat this effort as well,” Harris said.