Flint Schools Must Address Lead-Related Disabilities, Class Action Says

UPDATE: November 2020, a $641 million settlement has been reached to benefit Michigan residents affected by the Flint water crisis.

Parents of school-age children from Flint, Mich. filed a class action lawsuit against Flint schools for allegedly failing to respond to the developmental effects of lead-contaminated water on their children.

The plaintiffs are fifteen children, all residents of Flint or students of Flint Community Schools or local charter schools.

The child plaintiffs are identified by their initials, and are represented by their respective parents or guardians.

The Flint schools class action lawsuit focuses on the Flint public school system’s alleged failure to respond to the recent lead-poisoning crisis in the Flint municipal water system.

Plaintiffs point out that because lead is a known neurotoxin that causes cognitive, behavioral and developmental impairment in children, it’s crucial that Flint schools take active steps to address those disabilities in its students.

They argue the state and the school system are obligated to take steps to address Flint children’s lead-related disabilities under provisions of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and Michigan state law.

The plaintiffs say the state of Michigan has failed to enable the Flint public school system to address these obligations.

According to this Flint schools class action lawsuit, there are approximately 30,000 school-age children in Flint who are now at risk for developing disabilities related to lead-contaminated drinking water.

Yet despite this imminent risk of disability, plaintiffs say, defendants Michigan Department of Education, Genesee Intermediate School District and Flint Community Schools provide no screening, intervention services or referrals for special education.

In addition to failing to provide these services, plaintiffs say disciplinary practices in Flint schools fail to employ procedural safeguards as required under IDEA to ensure that students are not punished for behaviors that are actually related to their disabilities.

The Flint schools class action lawsuit is one of several large-scale legal actions arising out of the lead contamination of the Flint water system, exposed in 2015.

Citizens sued under the Safe Drinking Water Act in January 2016. Other residents followed with personal injury class action lawsuits, one filed the same month and another filed in March 2016.

Plaintiffs in the Flint schools class action lawsuit are proposing to represent a Class that includes all children residing in Flint of ages 3 through 26 who have been exposed to lead and who may be eligible for special education and related services under applicable laws but who have not been timely identified or provided with those services. The proposed Class would also include these children’s parents.

The plaintiffs are asking for a court order requiring the defendants to ensure that all Flint children who attend or may attend Flint schools are screened for effects of lead-contaminated water and to take steps to mitigate those effects in each child.

They are also calling for specific organizational reforms in Flint schools staffing, school programming, record-keeping, public outreach, and ongoing testing for water quality, all to be overseen for a period of seven years by an appointed Special Monitor.

The plaintiffs are represented by attorneys Gregory G. Little, Lindsay M. Heck, Walter Ciacci, Dominique Forrest and Laura Grai of White & Case LLP, Kary L. Moss, Kristen L. Totten, Daniel S. Korobkin, Michael J. Steinberg of the ACLU Fund of Michigan, and David G. Sciarra and Jessica Levin of Education Law Center.

The Flint Schools Water Contamination Class Action Lawsuit is D.R., et al. v. Michigan Department of Education, et al., Case No. 2:16-cv-13694, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.