A parent of a Madison East High School student on Wednesday filed a federal lawsuit seeking damages from the Madison School District on behalf of all students whose requests to transfer out of the district were denied on the basis of race.

The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Madison, says the student, who is white, sought to transfer to a neighboring district under the state's open enrollment program after suffering "considerable stress and dissatisfaction" at East during the 2006-07 school year.

Madison officials denied the request, citing a district policy that barred transfers that would increase the "racial imbalance" in the district, according to the suit filed by Monona lawyer Michael Fox. The parent and student aren't identified.

The suit seeks to be declared a class action on behalf of all students whose transfer requests have been denied on the basis of race.

It contends the students' constitutional rights to equal protection were violated, and the students are entitled to damages, including for the money they've paid to attend other schools.

Madison schools Superintendent Daniel Nerad declined to comment on the suit Wednesday evening, saying he hadn't had a chance to review it.

However, he noted that the district halted racially based denials of transfer requests in February 2008, eight months after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling cast doubt on the enforceability of a state law that the district had cited in denying transfer requests.

"I believe the district responded in a responsible manner to the U.S. Supreme Court case," said Nerad, who on July 1 succeeded Art Rainwater as Madison's schools chief.

In the 2006-07 school year, Madison was the only one of the state's 426 school districts to deny transfer requests because of race, rejecting 126 white students' applications to enroll in other districts, including online schools, records show.