News & Commentary

During a June 12 meeting of the Tonganoxie USD 464 school board, members of the public were made aware of the following policy: "Individuals may not publicly address the board concerning matters relating to named individuals or students."

In considering boundary changes across its district, the Shawnee Mission School Board has proposed a plan that would consequently increase racial segregation at one of its elementary schools. Under the plan, the minority population at Rising Star Elementary School in Lenexa would rise 9%, from 54% of the student population to 63%.  Other elementary schools  would experience no more than a 3% increase in minority population.

The Shawnee Mission School Board recently implemented a new policy that prohibits members of the public from commenting on specific employees during open forum portions of school board meetings.

Secretary Kobach claims the Texas travel advisory we issued yesterday in the wake of the passage of SB4, a law that will allow law enforcement officers in Texas to make immigration status inquiries during routine traffic stops, makes no sense.

In April, the ACLU was contacted by a board member of the Shawnee Heights USD 450 Board of Education regarding a proposed policy of randomly drug testing students engaged in extracurricular activities. The board voted against the policy on March 27, but plans to revisit the issue at a board meeting on May 15.

On February 7, 2017, a student at Briarwood Elementary in the Shawnee Mission School District was taken into state custody by the Prairie Village Police Department at the end of the school day. The child's mother had been detained by ICE agents and her toddler had also been taken into state custody. The student's father was not home at the time of the incident and later picked his children up from a Division of Children & Families facility.

Citing Micah Kubic, executive director of the ACLU of Kansas, a piece on ThinkProgress explains the significance of the recent court ruling ordering Kris Kobach to release documents pertaining to his proposed changes to the National Voter Registration Act that he took to his meeting with President Trump in November.

A federal judge has ordered Kris Kobach to release the document outlining his proposed changes to federal voting rights laws that he took to his infamous meeting with President Trump in November. Deeming Kobach's previous denial of the document's content "word-play meant to present a materially inaccurate picture of the documents," the judge called the Secretary of State's credibility into question.

ACLU of Kansas sent a letter to the President of the Dodge City Community College requesting official documents related to an alleged requirement that the College’s cosmetology students speak only English and refrain from speaking Spanish at school.