A private school in Milwaukee is facing a lawsuit from two notable parents. Craig Robinson, the brother of former first lady Michelle Obama and former head men’s basketball coach at Oregon State University and his wife, Kelly Robinson, are suing the University School of Milwaukee, claiming the school expelled their two young sons after raising concerns about racial and socio-economic bias at the school.

The Robinsons, who currently live in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, enrolled their two children a 11-year-old and a 9-year-old in USM, a pre-kindergarten through 12th-grade school, in 2016. The school expelled their older child in April 2021 and then their younger son in June 2021, which has led to the couple suing USM. The Robinsons talked to “Good Morning America” on Tuesday following the legal action.

“We’re moving forward with this for a couple of reasons. We want to hold University School of Milwaukee accountable not just to our two children who they retaliated against, but more importantly, there’s a whole community of people who are out there that we wouldn’t feel right if this happened moving forward,” Craig Robinson said. “The third reason is, this needs to stop and change and this will help all students at the University School of Milwaukee.”

The school’s reasoning for both children’s’ dismissal, according to a letter the couple received, was because the Robinsons had “not fulfilled the foregoing commitments as a partner to USM and its Middle School teachers and administrators.”

However, Craig and Kelly Robinson say in the lawsuit it’s because of prior conversations they had with school administrators about racial and ethnic stereotypes in virtual classroom assignments.

“Because our school has not been served with a complaint and not had time to review the allegations, we are not in [a] position to comment on this pending legal matter at this time,” Steve Hancock, Head of School at University School of Milwaukee said in a statement to “GMA.”

The Robinsons says they began noticing issues with their kids’ classroom assignments during the COVID-19 pandemic. In the lawsuit, the couple says they had “communicated to USM their concerns about USM’s failure to provide the ‘supportive, inclusive’ learning environment that was promised in the enrollment contract, the USM Middle School Handbook, USM’s Common Trust.”

The couple claims in the lawsuit that USM,  “acted toward its model students of color with none of the respect, trust, honesty, fairness or even the basic kindness, mandated by the Common Trust.”

Craig and Kelly Robinson recalled a time when their students were denied the chance to test out of a math class, however, only white students were able to take the exam, according to the lawsuit.

“As a lot of parents, we heard what was going on in the classroom because of COVID and there were repeated use of racial and ethnic stereotypes that were in actual assignments,” Craig Robinson said. “The use of the word plantation and things of that nature. In addition to the racial and ethnic stereotypes, there was an insensitivity to socioeconomic status and as well as a disregard for the children who weren’t physically in the classroom.”

The former basketball coach added that their initial response was to “have a communication with them and give them some suggestions” but that it was “summarily dismissed.”

The couple hopes their lawsuit will pressure on the school to create a more inclusive and diverse environment.

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