- Districts for Democracy
Parents sue Mountain Lakes School district for allegedly supporting anti-racism
Updated: May 7
By Laura Joellson, July 11, 2022
Mountain Lakes: A lawsuit was filed against the grades K-12 Mountain Lakes school district and its Board of Education on June 6, claiming the high school was a hostile learning environment due to discussions of anti-racism and the school supporting claims of the existence of “white privilege.”
The suit was filed by Brett Lane, the father of the underage student. Brett Lane is married to Borough Councilwoman Audrey Lane, a Republican. The suit was filed in federal U.S. District Court in Newark.
Out of the 641 students enrolled at Mountain Lakes High School, there are only eight black students and 46 Hispanics
In the suit, Audrey and Brett Lane’s son, a white student, claims he has had his civil rights violated due to, “discrimination against him based on his race or the color of his skin” according to the suit.
The litigation claims that the district brought up the concepts of white privilege and systemic injustice, which hinders the white students due to “forcing a political ideology on them.”