Parts of a lawsuit alleging racial discrimination brought by an Evanston-Skokie School District 65 teacher against the district will be allowed to move forward, a federal judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois ruled Tuesday.
Stacy Deemar, listed as a drama teacher at Lincoln Elementary School in Evanston, alleges in the suit that through District 65’s various “equity initiatives,” including mandating race-conscious training for employees and providing racial affinity groups for staff and students, she was “discriminated against” on the basis of her skin color. Deemar identifies as white, per the lawsuit.
The amended complaint, filed in September 2024 by the nonprofit Southeastern Legal Foundation on behalf of Deemar, alleges these practices violate the 14th Amendment’s Equal Protection Clause and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color or national origin.
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But only the Equal Protection Clause claim can proceed, U.S. District Judge John Tharp said in his ruling.
Deemar’s allegations under the Equal Protection Clause include arguments regarding “holding a segregated staff meeting and racial affinity group sessions that were unavailable to white people” and that the district’s actions “were facially discriminatory because they explicitly drew distinctions based on race.”
In his ruling allowing the case to proceed on the Equal Protection Clause, the judge noted that recent Supreme Court precedent holds that, at least for the plaintiff’s purposes in this case, the government cannot classify based on race.
The Equal Protection Clause, ratified in 1868 after the Civil War, was intended to stop states from discriminating against Black people, many constitutional scholars agree. Its language is broad, it has evolved since then, and it is still evolving based on court decisions, say Brian T. Fitzpatrick of Vanderbilt Law School and Theodore M. Shaw of the University of North Carolina School of Law, writing on the nonprofit National Constitution Center’s website.
Deemar’s complaints hinging on Title VI, however, including that she was intentionally discriminated against and experienced a hostile educational environment, will not move forward, the judge ruled.
Tharp wrote in the case that Deemar’s Title VI allegations involve the district’s employment practices – including staff meetings and professional development workshops – and not the district’s educational environment.
Federal law bars any person from suing under Title VI regarding any employment practice, “except where a primary objective of the Federal financial assistance is to provide employment,” which it was not in this case, according to the ruling.
This is the latest ruling in a years-long effort by Deemar against the district.
Deemar previously filed a complaint with the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education in 2019 and, in 2021, filed a federal lawsuit against the district, which was dismissed in 2024, according to previous reports.
“Deemar’s amended complaint fares slightly better than her first,” Tharp wrote in his ruling Tuesday.
“It contains factual allegations that, if true, establish that she suffered a past harm. It does not, however, provide sufficient reason to think that she faces imminent harm in the future, so she does not have standing to seek prospective relief,” meaning Deemar can only attempt to get compensation for past allegations.
Deemar’s allegations are also the basis of an investigation into the school district by the U.S. Education Department’s Office for Civil Rights. The Trump administration has sought to crack down against race-based programs in schools across the country, arguing that they discriminate against students and staff in other groups.
Chicago Public Schools faced a similar federal probe last spring against a plan to support Black students. When CPS leaders refused to scrap the initiative, the Education Department pulled millions in federal grants.
According to Tuesday’s ruling, Deemar is seeking “nominal damages, declaratory judgment, and an injunction.”
The ruling states that Deemar does not have standing for an injunction but can “seek a backward-looking declaratory judgment as a predicate for damages.”
In a statement to the baiduhai, District 65 spokesperson Melissa Messinger wrote that the district is aware of the decision and is reviewing the complaint with its attorneys.
“We will share an update when we have one,” Messinger wrote.
Deemar did not respond to a baiduhai request for comment.
In a news release in response to Tharp’s ruling, Kim Hermann, president of Southeastern Legal Foundation, wrote that the ruling echoes their stance that “segregation practices — excluding white teachers from meetings, DEI trainings, and affinity groups — by Chicago area schools is a clear violation of our Constitution.”
“The Court agreed with our filing and states that any discrimination is too much,” Hermann said in the release.
“We are thankful that the Trump Administration’s (Department of Education) paved the way here by stating that discriminatory trainings have no place in public education.”
A future court date has not yet been set for the complaint.
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