Billings Gazette

Wolf Point schools investigated for discriminating against Native American students

The U.S. Department of Education will investigate a discrimination complaint made 18 months ago against the Wolf Point School District. The complaint claims systematic discrimination against American Indian students, according to a lawyer who helped file the complaint in June 2017.

The school district was the subject of stories in the New York Times and ProPublica that highlighted the school district’s disparities in academic achievement and discipline rates between white and American Indian students, as well as the claims from a civil rights complaint. 

The federal investigation announcement comes a week after the stories were published. One story quoted a federal “senior official” saying the complaint was being evaluated. 

A press release from New York University assistant professor Melina Healey, who helped file the complaint, said federal officials would look into the complaint late last week. 

Federal officials confirmed that the

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