FAIR Files OCR Complaint Against North Thurston Public Schools for Racial Discrimination
Newsletter
Dear Friends of FAIR,
On December 2, 2025, FAIR filed a federal civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights against North Thurston Public Schools (NTPS) in Lacey, Washington. The complaint alleges violations of Title VI and Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for sponsoring racially segregated staff events, despite being informed by FAIR of the legal violations one year earlier.
In November 2024, FAIR sent a detailed letter to NTPS Superintendent Troy Oliver explaining that the district’s planned “Educators of Color” event violated federal civil rights law. Our letter cited Supreme Court precedent including Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard and explicitly urged the district to ensure all employees could attend regardless of race.
NTPS ignored FAIR’s guidance. On November 12, 2025, the district’s Equity and Languages Department sent an email inviting only “staff of color” to a December gathering. This time, the district attempted to conceal the discriminatory nature by avoiding public flyers and relying on a restricted email list and word-of-mouth among selected employees.
Multiple non-“staff of color” employees reported to FAIR that they believed they were excluded from the event. The message was unmistakable: North Thurston Public Schools was willing to openly defy federal civil rights law to maintain racially segregated programming.
As FAIR explained to NTPS last year, federal law prohibits public schools from separating employees or excluding them from benefits based on race. The Supreme Court has consistently held that all racial classifications—even those characterized as “benign” or “separate but equal” —must survive strict scrutiny, a standard that is rarely met.
In Students for Fair Admissions, the Court emphasized that “eliminating racial discrimination means eliminating all of it” and that equal protection “cannot mean one thing when applied to one individual and something else when applied to a person of another color.” This principle applies with full force to employer-sponsored events that exclude staff based on skin color.
NTPS’s conduct represents more than a policy violation. By proceeding with racially exclusive events after receiving legal guidance, the district normalized discrimination and undermined equal treatment principles that civil rights laws protect. The district’s decision to obscure the 2025 event through private invitations suggests awareness of wrongdoing, which made the violation even more egregious.
Cases like North Thurston illustrate why FAIR’s work extends beyond litigation to education. Our American Experience Curriculum teaches students the constitutional principles that protect all Americans from discrimination—principles that some educators apparently never learned themselves.
FAIR has requested that OCR investigate NTPS, require the district to cease all racially segregated programming, mandate Title VI and VII compliance training for administrators, and issue a corrective notice acknowledging that such events are unlawful. We will continue monitoring this case and advocating for equal treatment for all employees.
As we approach our country’s 250th anniversary in 2026, we face a choice: Will we recommit to the constitutional guarantee of equal treatment, or will we allow institutions to resurrect the segregationist practices brave Americans fought to abolish?
FAIR’s work—from filing OCR complaints to developing a curriculum that teaches constitutional principles—depends on supporters who believe that civil rights protections must apply equally to everyone. Your contribution enables us to:
Challenge discriminatory policies through legal advocacy
Develop and implement curriculum that teaches constitutional principles
Train educators on civil rights compliance
Monitor institutions and hold them accountable
Your gift ensures that when schools violate civil rights law, FAIR can respond—and the next generation learns why discrimination is wrong, regardless of which groups it targets or what justifications are offered.
Because when institutions ignore guidance about civil rights violations, enforcement becomes necessary—and education becomes essential.
With gratitude,
Monica Harris
Executive Director
Text FAIRFORALL to 707070 to donate to FAIR’s 250 for 250 Campaign.
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You failed to identify (and publicly name) the INDIVIDUALS responsible for NTPS' discriminatory policies and events. Assigning blame to an institution effectively absolves the individuals involved within that institution of any personal/professional taint associated with their reprehensible and illegal behavior. Doing so also allows such individuals to move on to other districts and professional positions with their reputations intact and their new employers unaware of their past misdeeds.
Name names, FAIR!