Emily Sortor  |  September 9, 2019

Category: Education

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elementary student in classroomWith the help of the Black Parallel School Board, three students have filed a class action lawsuit against the Sacramento City Unified School District, and its officers, over claims that the school district segregates black, disabled students from the rest of their peers.

The students say that the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) perpetuates an unlawful school system that results in “modern-day segregation.”

Allegedly, the school district’s conduct results in the mistreatment of students with disabilities, and this treatment unfairly affects black students with disabilities.

The three student plaintiffs are black and reportedly all have disabilities. They claim that the district fails to provide federally mandated assistance that would enable them to learn with other students at their grade level.

The school segregation class action lawsuit says that instead, the district separates the black students from their peers, and enrolls them in schools that are for students with disabilities.

Allegedly, this system does not allow them to access the curriculum that they are capable of learning, and separates them from other students, to the detriment of not only their intellectual development but at the expense of their mental and emotional health.

The Sacramento disability segregation class action lawsuit points to the landmark decision in Brown v. Board of Education, that established that “public education programs, services, and facilities must be operated in a manner that ensures equal access for and inclusion of all students, regardless of race or disability.”

The Sacramento Public Schools class action lawsuit says that segregation faced by primarily black, disabled students violates a number of laws aimed at ensuring that students with disabilities, and those of all races, have equal access to education.

Again pointing to Brown v. Board of Education, the students and the Black Parallel School Board stress that “separate education facilities are inherently unequal,” as established by Brown.

The students and the Black Parallel School Board also state that the Americans with Disabilities Act notes that Congress found that segregation is a “form of discrimination against individuals with disabilities,” and the law establishes that students with disabilities have the right to be educated with their non-disabled peers to the “maximum extent appropriate.”

Allegedly, in addition to being separated into isolating, less challenging learning environments, the black, disabled students in the SCUSD are subjected to other forms of discrimination. The students claim that they are subjected to “excessive and exclusionary discipline” for behavior allegedly caused by their disabilities.

To support their claims that the black, disabled students face unfair discipline, the Sacramento segregation class action lawsuit notes that students with disabilities are 2.5 times more likely to be suspended than those without disabilities and black students with disabilities are 2.8 times more likely to be suspended than those with disabilities.

Have you experienced similar situations in other school districts? Let us know your story in the comment section below.

The students and the Black Parallel School Board are represented by Mona Tawatao and Eva Paterson of Equal Justice Society, by Carly J. Munson and Bridget Claycomb of Disability Rights California, by Michael Harris of the National Center for Youth Law, and by Antoinette Dozier and Richard Rothschild of Western Center on Law and Poverty.

The Sacramento School District Segregation Class Action Lawsuit is Black Parallel School Board, et al. v. Sacramento City Unified School District, et al., Case No. 2:19-at-00821, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California.

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One thought on Calif. School District Segregates Black, Disabled Students, Class Action Says

  1. Andrea Mantecon says:

    Sacramento City Unified School District schools do not care about students with disabilities. Special Education Becky Bryant is not an advocate for our kids. I have been told by principals of Mark Twain, Caleb Greenwood, Sam Brannan they have nothing to do with Special Ed. If the Principal does not want special ed the school won’t either; the principal sets the tone. I’ve had a general ed teacher she didn’t want to teach my daughter because she felt she didn’t have to. The schools do not include the special education in school events. It’s about time I dropped out of CAC because I felt they catered to much to the district and wasn’t pushing the board or special ed into making real changes

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