SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. — A lawsuit filed by a group of parents over a racially insensitive virtual homework assignment is being moved to federal court, according to court records.
The suit, which was originally announced in April, sought $75,000 in financial damages and court-mandated bias training for the Sun Prairie Area School District, stemming from an assignment given to students at Patrick Marsh Middle School asking how they would punish a slave.
The suit was originally filed in Dane County Circuit Court, but a check of court records found the case was moved to federal court in July.
The assignment was first reported to the district in February, when a parent shared a photo of one of the assignment’s slides online. The screenshot showed a prompt that read, “A slave stands before you. This slave has disrespected his master by telling him ‘You are not my master!’ How will you punish this slave?” with a box asking for the student’s response.
The parent e-mailed the teacher asking what the point of the assignment was, and the teacher responded they did not know the assignment would be offensive and thought it would be a good point of discussion.
A News 3 Now investigation later found the assignment was part of a lesson plan teachers could buy online. The lesson plan has since been removed from the site.
The district responded by putting the teachers on leave and deciding not to bring them back after last school year. It also created what it called an “equity framework” and hired a new equity director.
According to federal court records, the case has a number of motion deadlines set for next summer and could end with a jury selection and trial about a year from now, on August 8, 2022. The lawsuit could still be dismissed or settled before that date.
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