North Cook News

A Deerfield High School parent has filed a civil rights complaint with the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights, alleging the school violated federal law by administering a “What Is Privilege?” survey in class without parental consent.   

Nicole Georgas said the complaint was prompted by an Oct. 24 classroom exercise—a 35-question worksheet exploring race, gender, wealth and identity— that violated the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment (PPRA), which requires parental approval before schools survey students on sensitive personal topics such as family income, mental health or sexual orientation.

“My daughter is a full opt-out student, and she should have never, ever been handed the survey to begin with,” Georgas told North Cook News. “That’s what makes it a little interesting as well. They are in a PPRA violation.”

Nicole Georgas | X / Nicole Georgas

Georgas says she submitted written opt-out forms on Aug. 8, which were confirmed by Principal Dr. Will Dwyer days later.

“Dwyer confirmed on August 12th that he was in receipt of our parental rights forms and that he was forwarding them on to the counseling department and that he confirmed our parental rights,” she said.

Georgas said she referenced those communications when challenging the district’s claim about the nature of the assignment.

“They tried saying that that wasn't a survey, but then I flipped the script on them and showed all of the surveys to him,” she said.

Georgas contends that these questions probe into students’ private family lives and personal identities.

“It doesn’t matter if it was a handout or not,” she said. “They had to put their name on it and it was going to be discussed in class. It’s emotional, sexual — and it’s none of that teacher’s business.”

The Moms for Liberty Lake County chapter spoke out about the situation on X.   

“Deerfield HS trying to claim this activity was not a ‘survey,’” Moms4LibertyLakeIL said on X. “This is wrong to try to say this as clearly it is. The opt out by the parent was not honored or lost. @DeerfieldHS It is best to admit the error or mistake, apologize & remediate instead of gaslighting.” 

The worksheet at the center of the dispute, titled “What Is Privilege?” asked students to score themselves by adding or subtracting “privilege points” for a range of personal experiences. 

“Add +1 if this works in your favor and subtract -1 if it works against you,”  the first page of the survey reads. “i.e. if your parents DID NOT/DO NOT work nights and weekends to support your family, then add + 1. If your parents DID/DO work nights and weekends to support your family, then subtract - 1.”

The 35 questions focus on perceived disparities with many questions focusing on “racial group, sexual orientation group, gender group,” posing the followig to students: 

• “If you are able to move through the world without fear of sexual assault.”

• “If you can show affection for your romantic partner in public without fear of ridicule or violence.”

• “If you have ever felt like there was NOT adequate or accurate representation of your racial group, sexual orientation group, gender group, and/or disability group in the media.”

• ”If you have ever been the only person of your race/rouder/socio-economic status/sexual orientation in a classroom or workplace setting.”

• “If you have ever been diagnosed as having a physical or mental illness/disability.”

The worksheet ends with a reflective writing section. 

“What did you notice about your own privilege? What surprised you?” and “What stood out to you the most from our class discussion? How does this impact your perception of privilege?” the worksheet reads. 

Georgas says her daughter—a sophomore honors student—was distressed by the experience and that she has since removed her from the class. 

“My child has never traveled out of the country. Yeah. My child has never left the United States of America. How do you think that made her feel? She's not privileged,” Georgas said.

“She’s a great student. She was MVP of the Deerfield field hockey team. She is not a bad kid. She's a good kid. So she was terrified to answer those questions in the wrong way.”

Amisha Shah, a social studies teacher at Deerfield High School, distributed the survey.

“This is a teacher gone rogue and indoctrination at its highest level. And it's sad. This is so sad,” Georgas said, describing Shah as “a radical teacher.”

“She is not the kind of teacher that should be in the school,” she said.

“They've never handed out a syllabus in that class, which is shady to begin with. Why was there never a syllabus handed to the student? Or what are they hiding?” 

Georgas said the class was later approved by Deerfield High School - Township High School District 113 administrators, including Shah and fellow social studies teacher, Lisa Allen, who used the same curriculum as last year. 

“So they haven't changed a darn thing since last year,” she said.

She said the school district should focus on more urgent issues, like its hiring practices, in a post on X.   

Georgas, who previously filed a civil rights complaint in March 2025 after her 13-year-old daughter was allegedly forced to change in front of a transgender student at an elementary school in District 109, said this latest episode shows a deeper cultural problem.

She added that her new federal complaint is being handled by America First Legal, the same firm that represented her in her prior Title IX case.

Georgas says her fight is about maintaining parental control in the face of encroaching leftist ideology.

“Liberals are running the state of Illinois. They turn a blind eye. And it's ‘Wokeville’ here and it's gotta stop. It has to stop and I'm only a one-woman show here."

“Since this happened, I've had three other Deerfield parents reach out to me because they are experiencing the same things,” Georgas said. “It's gotten a lot of people mad."