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A federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union alleges systematic discrimination against Native American students in the Winner School District.

According to the complaint, school officials discipline Native Americans far more harshly than other students in an effort to discourage them from attending the district's schools.

Among the tactics alleged in the lawsuit is coercing kids to sign confessions for breaking rules, which are then given to a county prosecutor for use in bringing criminal charges.

School administrators declined to comment and deferred questions about the lawsuit to the district's lawyer, who could not be reached for comment.

Jennifer Ring, director of the ACLU of the Dakotas, said the case highlights two national trends: the increasing use of police to handle minor school discipline issues and the crisis in education facing many Native Americans.

"We do not consider this case to just be about Winner," Ring said.

But the civil liberties organization said Winner schools represent one of the most egregious examples it's found anywhere.

"What we found shocked even us," said Catherine Kim, a national staff lawyer for the ACLU who spoke with others at a press conference Tuesday in Sioux Falls.

Kim said Native American students in Winner are three times more likely than white students to be suspended, and 10 times more likely to be referred to law enforcement.

The Winner School District is situated just east of the Rosebud Indian Reservation.

Native Americans represent about 30 percent of the district's elementary students, but they make up only 14 percent of high school students.

Ring said the numbers support the ACLU's claims that the school's disciplinary tactics are siphoning Native American students out of classrooms and into the criminal justice system.

The class-action lawsuit was filed in Pierre on Monday on behalf of a group of parents and students. It names the school district, as well as its superintendent and two principals as defendants.

Taylor White Buffalo was in fifth grade in April 2004 when he got in a playground scuffle with a classmate.

A white classmate allegedly pushed White Buffalo repeatedly during an argument over a basketball, the lawsuit said. White Buffalo responded by punching the other boy.

The Native American student was led to the principal's office and coerced into signing an affidavit saying that he punched the white student.

Police arrested White Buffalo, and his confession was used to charged him with simple assault, the lawsuit says.

"I don't care for the way they handled this," said Dale White Buffalo, the boy's father, who spoke at the press conference.

He said the school called their home and said to come immediately if they wanted to say goodbye to their son before they took him to jail.

Dana Hanna, attorney general for the Rosebud Sioux Tribe, said the administrators use fear and intimidation to coax confessions out of students.

The lawsuit is not asking for any monetary settlement. Instead, it asks for a federal injunction to halt the alleged practices.

"We want them to start treating these children like children," Hanna said.