Chicago Public Schools Hit with Class Action over Disability Rights

Parents with limited English skills who also have children with disabilities have filed a class action lawsuit against Chicago Public Schools over a lack and even denial of services.

Lead plaintiffs along with an advocacy group, Equip for Equality, allege in their class action lawsuit that the Chicago Public School system fails to provide adequate services to students with disabilities whose parents speak limited English. They say that documents are often only provided in English and parents don’t understand.

According to the complaint, more than 20,000 students served by Chicago Public Schools live in households with languages other than English. The plaintiffs say that services for their children were delayed and even denied because they did not have access to translated information or to a translator during meetings with the schools.

The class action lawsuit alleges that Chicago Public Schools fails to meet its mandate to provide services as required under federal law. Parents are provided forms and letters in English shortly before the school year starts. They are often unaware that their child has been moved to a different school or has been denied previously provided services.

“The children harmed by Defendants’ conduct live in families whose native language is not English and have parents with limited English proficiency. Defendants fail to meet their legal obligation to these limited English proficient parents and their children with disabilities by failing, on a systemic basis, to translate vital documents and provide competent interpretation in the process used to determine what special education services these children require,” alleges the Chicago school class action.

The plaintiffs allege that they and thousands of other parents of disabled children have been denied meaningful participation in the Individualized Education Program mandated under federal law.

The plaintiffs seek to represent tens of thousands of parents and students who have allegedly been harmed. The class action seeks to represent parents with limited English proficiency whose children have disabilities and have been or will be enrolled in Chicago Public Schools. They also seek to represent students with disabilities whose parents have limited English proficiency.

The plaintiffs are seeking an injunction to stop the Chicago School System’s alleged systematic and continuing violations of federal education law and to require the school system provide translated documents and translators to help parents with limited English skills and their children.

The class action lawsuit states that the school system needs to set up a way to identify parents with limited English skills, hire and train translators, and notify parents of their right to receive vital documents in their native language.

The plaintiffs are represented by Donna Welch, Alec Solotorovsky, and Jennifer Pinsof of Kirkland & Ellis LLP, and Olga Pribyl, Barry Taylor, Margo Weinstein, and Margaret Wakelin of Equip for Equality Inc.

The Chicago Public Schools Disability Rights Class Action Lawsuit is H.P., et al. v. Board of Education of the City of Chicago, et al., Case No. 1:18-cv-00621, in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Eastern Division.