HANOVER — The Dresden and Hanover school districts are two of six in New Hampshire suing the U.S. Department of Education.

On April 8, after nearly two hours in executive session, both the Dresden and Hanover school boards voted unanimously to join a lawsuit filed by the National Education Association and the union’s New Hampshire chapter against the federal DOE. The lawsuit is over the department’s Feb. 14 letter threatening federal funding cuts and other punishments for schools found engaging in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts.

“The biggest problem we see is the lack of clarity in the instructions given,” Dresden board Chairman Ben Keeney said. “A lot of the directives are so nebulous that I can’t answer what’s in compliance and what isn’t accurately.”

The American Civil Liberties Union, or ACLU, of New Hampshire is representing the Education Associations and the school districts.

The DOE’s Feb. 14 letter warns schools they must be in compliance with the department’s new interpretation of Title VI — part of the landmark Civil Rights Act of 1964 that prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color and national origin in programs and activities receiving federal financial assistance.

“In recent years, American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families,” the letter states.

The letter said the DOE “intends to take appropriate measures to assess compliance” with its new interpretation of the law.

On March 5, the ACLUs of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, the NEA and the NEA–New Hampshire, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Concord, New Hampshire.

The lawsuit argues that the DOE “has overstepped its legal authority by: Imposing unfounded and vague legal restrictions that violate due process and the First Amendment; Limiting academic freedom; and Impermissibly dictating what educators can teach and what students are allowed to learn,” according to ACLU New Hampshire’s website.

“For us to try to figure out how to whitewash all of our policies, that just seems like a complete usurpation of local control and the board’s legal responsibility to develop policy for our schools,” Jay Badams, superintendent of SAU 70 said in a phone interview Monday.

The Dresden Interstate School District serves secondary school students from Norwich and Hanover. It operates Frances C. Richmond Middle School and Hanover High School both located in Hanover. Bernice A. Ray School for students in grades kindergarten through fifth grade is the only school in the Hanover School District.

Besides Hanover and Dresden, the Dover, Oyster River, Portsmouth and Somersworth school districts also have joined the lawsuit.

An April 3 letter from the DOE ordered superintendents to sign a form stating that their school districts are in compliance with the new standards. “(A)ny violation of Title VI — including the use of Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion (“DEI”) programs to advantage one’s race over another — is impermissible,” states the form.

The department threatens litigation, withholding funds and recovering previously awarded grants for districts not complying and warns individuals found making false claims of compliance can be fined “thousands of dollars per violation.”

On April 9, the school unions and districts reached an agreement with the DOE in U.S. District Court of New Hampshire, halting the DOE from initiating any compliance investigations or actions in New Hampshire schools until after April 24. However, the New Hampshire Education Department’s deadline for districts to submit compliance forms is still this Thursday, according to Kimberly Houghton, a spokesperson for the department.

It’s unclear what could constitute a violation of the DOE’s interpretation of Title VI, but Badams has “real concerns about (the districts’) liability.”

In 2019, a committee of staff and community members formed to create “equity policies” for SAU 70’s school districts. SAU 70, along with its three districts, all currently have these equity policies on the books that outline practices for creating curriculum, student services and hiring and recruiting practices that strive to ensure “every student has access to high-quality, culturally responsive curriculum, programs, teachers and administrators, extracurricular activities, and support services to meet the needs of each and every student.”

“We aim with a Hanover High School education to provide different things to different students at different times,” wrote Hanover High School Principal Julie Stevenson in an email. “It is not because we are trying to ‘advantage one race over another,’ we are tailoring the education to each student. Equal is not the goal, 100% thriving is the goal.”

In terms of programs, Hanover High School has a Slavic and a BIPOC affinity group as well as clubs for neurodivergent students and women in STEM. Richmond Middle School has a Sexuality and Gender Equity Club.

The Lebanon School Board, discussed the Title VI certification notification at their last meeting, but have not submitted one, according to New Hampshire Department of Education’s website.

“We asked for additional information about the lawsuit, but that is all we have done,” Lebanon School Board Chairwoman Lilian Maughan said in an email. “We are watching developments as they happen and not taking any action at this time.”

Amanda Isabelle, superintendent of the Mascoma River Valley School District, said she submitted the compliance form for the district because the district is “in compliance with the Education Department’s standards at this point.”

The ACLU is pressing for a preliminary injunction, a court order that would temporarily prohibit the DOE from taking action beyond April 24 while the case is pending.

A hearing on the motion is scheduled for Thursday morning.

“No one likes a target on their back, but we believe we are representing the interest of our community, students, staff and town,” Keeney, the Dresden chairman, said. “We believe we are doing the right thing.”

Emma Roth-Wells can be reached at erothwells@vnews.com or 603-727-3242.