Michelle Obama’s brother and sister-in-law, Craig and Kelly Robinson, have settled and agreed to dismiss a 2022 lawsuit that claimed their children were wrongfully prevented from attending the University of Milwaukee School.

The Robinsons claimed their two sons were denied re-enrollment at the private school in retaliation for raising the issue of an allegedly racist school curriculum and treatment of black students.

In response, USM attorneys said the school has the authority to make enrollment decisions. The school’s principal, Steve Hancock, said in a letter That Robinson’s children were denied enrollment not because of their parents’ specific concerns, but because of how their parents communicated those concerns.

The lawsuit was dismissed with prejudice Tuesday, Milwaukee County Circuit Court records show. This means the case is permanently dismissed and cannot be brought back to court.

Details of the Oct. 8 settlement have not been released.

“The Robinson children have been exemplary students at USM. Both parties regret that disagreements between the Robinsons and the school have resulted in the Robinson children no longer being members of the USM community. The parties will not comment on the matter,” read the joint statement of Robinsons and USM.

The lawsuit was based on the Robinson family’s allegations of racist curriculum and treatment of black students

Robinsons cited the “broader pattern” of poor treatment of black students

The two Robinson children began attending University of Milwaukee School, a private school in River Hills, in 2016. The Robinsons’ lawsuit alleged the school made a “vindictive and improper decision” when it decided not to renew their enrollment contracts. to their sons for the 2021-22 school year.

The legal complaint alleged that USM decided to “punish two model students in retaliation against their parents for raising valid concerns about USM’s treatment of its students of color and other underrepresented stakeholders in the school.”

The Robinson parents said they began to take issue with the school’s curriculum during the Covid-19 pandemic, when their sons were virtually homeschooled. They said some classroom assignments were offensive to black, indigenous and other underrepresented students and, in response, brought their concerns to school administration.

The parents claimed the school promoted its commitment to diversity but failed to take steps to protect black students from repeated instances of racism directed at them by white students.

“We heard from a number of people and realized that our situation was not unique and that this was a pattern of behaviour,” Craig Robinson said in a 2022 Interview with Journal Sentinel. “And once we heard that, then we felt a responsibility to do something more because we would feel terrible if we just packed up and left.”

The school said Father Robinson’s communications were the problem

In a preliminary injunction, USM attorneys wrote that Kelly Robinson “decided she did not like the middle school curriculum” and “neither respected nor trusted the middle school teachers and administrators.”

The school told Kelly Robinson that she engaged in “disrespectful and deflating” communications with the school, court documents state.

Over the course of 170 days in the 2020-21 school year, USM attorneys say Kelly Robinson sent the school 135 emails and 350 pages of complaints. As a result, the school spent “hundreds of hours and tens of thousands of dollars,” according to the preliminary report.

“Ultimately, Mr. Hancock decided it was not in the school’s best interest to continue devoting resources to the Robinsons. USM’s relationship with them was clearly irreparably broken. It was time to move on,” the school’s attorneys wrote.

More: Michelle Obama’s brother and wife are suing the University School of Milwaukee, alleging racial bias

Cleo Krejci covers K-12 education and workforce development as a Report For America staff member based at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Contact her at [email protected] or follow her on Twitter @_CleoKrejci. For more information on the America Report, visit jsonline.com/rfa.

This article originally appeared on the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Michelle Obama’s brother and wife settle lawsuit against school