Lawsuit Charges State of Connecticut with Denying Expelled Students Their Right to an Education
Hartford, Connecticut – The State of Connecticut is denying students expelled from school their constitutionally protected right to an education, according to a lawsuit filed today on behalf of two public school students. The lawsuit contends that expelled children receive an unacceptably inferior education in violation of Connecticut’s constitutional guarantee.
The lawsuit further contends that the sub-standard alternative education offered to expelled children, who are disproportionately students of color, violates equal protection guarantees of both the state and U.S. Constitutions.
The lawsuit naming Governor Dan Malloy, the State Department of Education, the State Board of Education, Education Commissioner Dianna Wentzell, Hartford Superintendent of Schools Beth Schiavino-Narvaez, Manchester Superintendent Matthew Geary, and Bloomfield Superintendent James Thompson Jr. was brought by the Center for Children’s Advocacy (CCA), the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL), and K&L Gates LLP through its pro bono program.
According to Marisa Halm, Director of the Center for Children’s Advocacy TeamChild Juvenile Justice Project, “Connecticut routinely pushes out students through disciplinary proceedings and relegates them to an inferior education that doesn’t meet basic standards.” Halm cited data, compiled by the State of Connecticut, showing 850 students expelled during the 2014-15 school year. African-American and Hispanic students make up 59% of school expulsions, though they represent only 35% of state students.
One of the plaintiffs is an African-American boy who was expelled from the Bloomfield Public Schools (BPS), while in the eighth grade, for allegations that were never substantiated. While out of school, he was offered two hours of daily supervised independent study as an educational alternative by his home district, the Manchester Public Schools (MPS). Before being expelled he had access to science labs and participated in a science fair. However, science was not included in his independent study. After three months the support for his independent study abruptly stopped and MPS offered no further education for the remainder of the school year. He moved to Hartford and attempted to enroll in Hartford Public Schools (HPS) the following school year but was illegally denied readmission, even after his expulsion was over. When he was finally enrolled, he had gone a full year with no education at all. He was required to repeat his eighth grade year, and was offered no remedial support for the 12 months he was out of school.
The second plaintiff in the lawsuit is an African-American student who was expelled by HPS when she was in sixth grade for a fight at school. HPS only offered her a minimal education through an alternative program with less than three hours of seat time a day. Although the student was supposed to receive age appropriate work from her previous school, she received packets of work unrelated to the student’s curriculum. Staff at the alternative program even told the student that the work she was completing did not matter. Two months later, and only after repeated interventions by the student’s mother, the previous school began providing the student with schoolwork. And even then, the work provided did not cover all the courses the student was taking at her previous school. Moreover, the student had to complete the majority of work independently, with little to no direct instruction. Despite diligently completing all the work assigned to her, the student never received any grades or account for the work she completed while in the alternative program.
NCYL Staff Attorney Hannah Benton Eidsath says, “The State simply cannot pretend that a few hours of independent study a day, in only a handful of the subjects available in our public schools, is an adequate and meaningful alternative education for expelled students.” Benton Eidsath added, “Education is a right in Connecticut and that doesn’t change for students who have been removed from their schools.”
The lawsuit calls on the court to affirm the plaintiffs’ constitutional right to a meaningful education and to prohibit the practice of offering independent study as an alternative educational opportunity. It further asks the court to order the state to establish guidance for districts in educating students who have been expelled or otherwise removed from school.
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