From National School Boards Association, Legal Clips, 10/3/12

from National School Boards Association, Legal Clips, 10/3/12

University-run school sued for failure to protect Indiana elementary student from peer sex abuse

As reported by the Associated Press (AP) in the Huffington Post, the parents of a central Indiana boy are suing Ball State University, alleging their son was subjected to “horrific sexual abuse” by fellow second-graders at a university-run school who they say acted out scenes from pornographic videos they downloaded on school computers. The lawsuit says the boy was 8 years old when he was forced to engage numerous times in sex acts with other children at Burris Laboratory School in Muncie in late 2011. Four second-grade boys, including the alleged victim and another student described as the “ringleader,” are believed to have been involved in the sex abuse, the complaint alleges.

Ball State spokesman Tony Proudfoot said in a written statement that the university learned in December 2011 of allegations of inappropriate behavior among four second-graders at the school. He said the matter was “reported promptly” to local law enforcement and the Indiana Department of Child Services.

Proudfoot would not elaborate on the alleged inappropriate behavior, but he said the claims in the lawsuit “bear no resemblance to the evidence or results of the investigations of the university or those of the agencies to which it was reported.” Proudfoot’s statement noted that “no adults were alleged to be perpetrators of abuse of any child in this matter” and said that the university will “vigorously defend these unwarranted allegations.”

Chief Deputy Prosecutor Judi Calhoun confirmed Tuesday that the sheriff’s department and prosecutor’s office investigated the allegations. She said she could not comment on any findings because the matter involved juveniles and such cases are not open to the public. “All I can say in regard to the matter is that it was investigated,” Calhoun said.

Jason Delk, an attorney for the boy’s parents, also said he could not comment on what prosecutors or police found. But he said the boy suffered psychological and emotional trauma. “He’s absolutely a victim. I don’t know that he’s the main victim, but he’s certainly a victim of the sexual abuse that was going on at Burris,” Delk said Tuesday.

The lawsuit alleges the students had “unfettered access” to the Internet at school and viewed pornographic videos on school computers and iPads. After viewing those video, the lawsuit states, “the students would then ‘act out’ the scenes” on each other. All of the boys were students in the same second-grade class and were allowed by their teacher to go on long, unsupervised restroom breaks, the lawsuit states. Most of the alleged sex acts took place in bathrooms, but some occurred in the school’s library and in classrooms, the suit contends.

The suit, filed Friday, seeks compensatory and punitive damages. It alleges the boys engaged in at least 11 separate instances of sexual abuse and molestation over three months in late 2011. Delk said all of the boys were around 8 years old. He said the suit was filed “as a measure of last resort” after discussions with Ball State officials failed to result in “an understanding.” He declined to elaborate.

Source:The Huffington Post, 10/02/12, By Rick Callahan (AP)

[Editor's Note: In May 2012, Legal Clips summarized an article from the Miami Herald in Education Week, which reported Governor Rick Scott had signed into law a bill that requires anyone to report known or suspected cases of child sex abuse. The “Protection of Vulnerable Persons” law, which took effect on October 1, 2012, also gives Florida the toughest mandatory reporting requirements in the nation for sex abuse violations on schools and university campuses, say victims advocates.

In January 2011, Legal Clips summarized a decision by a federal district court in Washington in J.B. v. Mead Sch. Dist. No. 354, in which had ruled that a student alleging peer sexual harassment has failed to state a valid Title IX claim or a § 1983 claim based on deprivation of his substantive due process rights. The court concluded that the student had failed to allege sufficient facts to show that school officials had actual knowledge of the sexual abuse that occurred.]

Tags: bullying, Indiana, Internet access, sexual abuse, student safety

New Jersey district enters resolution agreement with OCR in disability discrimination case

As reported in a press release on ed.gov, the U.S. Department of Education’s (ED) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has entered into a resolution agreement with the East Orange School District in New Jersey to resolve compliance concerns identified by OCR, under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (Title II), during its investigation of the district’s special education program. The resolution will ensure that special education students in this largely minority school district are not inappropriately separated from their peers during the school day. OCR did not make a determination of whether or not the district was in compliance with Section 504 and Title II.

“Whenever possible, students with disabilities should be educated in regular educational programs in our nation’s public schools,” said Russlynn Ali, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights. “I applaud the steps the East Orange School District has agreed to take to address immediate concerns and to put systems in place to help ensure its compliance with Section 504 and Title II. We look forward to continuing to work cooperatively with the district to better ensure a fair, equal and supportive environment for all students.”

OCR initiated a compliance review in 2011 to assess whether the district discriminated against qualified students with disabilities by inappropriately placing them in self-contained classes instead of regular education classes. Section 504 and Title II require school districts to place disabled students in the regular educational environment unless the district demonstrates that the education of the disabled student in the regular environment cannot be achieved satisfactorily even with the use of supplementary aids and services.

In its Letter of Findings, OCR’s investigation revealed that a high number of students with disabilities were placed in the district’s self-contained classrooms. Specifically, during school year 2009-2010, 63 percent of the district’s 1,395 disabled students were in self-contained placements. During school year 2010-2011, 64 percent of the district’s 1,462 disabled students were placed in self-contained placements, and 52 percent of its 535 students with learning disabilities were placed in self-contained settings. OCR’s review of special education files revealed that, in many instances, the district did not demonstrate that these students could not be satisfactorily educated in the regular educational environment with the use of supplementary aids and services.

Source:ed.gov, 10/1/12, By Staff

[Editor's Note: In February 2012, Legal Clips summarized guidance documents issued by ED's Office for Civil Rights, specifically a Dear Colleague letter and a Frequently Asked Questions document, on the requirements of Title II and Section 504 in elementary and secondary schools, given the changes to those laws made by the 2008 ADA Amendments Act. The Amendments "broadened the meaning of disability and, in most cases, shifts the inquiry away from the question of whether a student has a disability as defined by the ADA and Section 504, and toward school districts' actions and obligations to ensure equal education opportunities."]

Oakland district enters five-year agreement with OCR to address disproportionate suspension rates of black students

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that in the face of a civil rights investigation for disciplining black students more harshly than their white peers, the school board for the Oakland Unified School District recently voted to accept five years of federal monitoring as the district attempts to address the problem.

The agreement with the U.S. Department of Education (ED) shuts down the investigation, but it now means that at least until 2017, federal officials will be monitoring 38 Oakland schools as they work to reduce the disproportionate suspension of minority students, especially African American boys.

Almost 20 percent of the district’s African American males were suspended at least once last year, six times the rate of white boys. In middle school, 1 out of every 3 black boys was suspended at least once. “Historically, they have been the whipping boys in our district,” Chris Chatmon, Executive Director of the district’s African-American Male Achievement Office, said in a presentation to the board. “We are here today to ante up and reclaim our children.”

The 28-page resolution approved by the board in a 6-0 vote outlines a five-year plan to address the needs of students in the 38 schools, including a requirement to offer mentoring, teacher training, parent education and programs to address the impact of trauma and community violence on student behavior.

District Superintendent Tony Smith said the agreement is a powerful and positive step that will force Oakland – regardless of who is elected to the school board or who is running the schools – to stay on track in reducing suspensions. “The agreement codified efforts already in place,” he said. “Everything that’s in there, the board has already approved.” Several programs are already in place to mitigate behavioral problems in classrooms and fights on the playground, Smith said.

While district officials are optimistic about programs already in place, they acknowledged it will not be easy to implement the five-year agreement. The plan will cost the district millions to implement, which includes comprehensive and frequent documentation to prove compliance with the federal Civil Rights Act of 1964. Smith said he plans to ask foundations and community groups focused on discipline issues to help back the plan, which he believes will be a national model for other districts struggling with disproportionate suspensions.

ED’s Office for Civil Rights initiated the investigation in May 2012 after previous inquiries within the district over the same issues in the late 1990s and in 2006 lapsed without resolution. Oakland now shows promise with its renewed effort already in place to combat suspension rates, officials at the Office for Civil Rights said.

Oakland is just one of hundreds if not thousands of districts across the country with disproportionate rates of suspension and expulsion between black students and their white peers. For example, in the Manteca Unified and Jefferson Union High districts, 60 percent of African American students were suspended at least once in the 2009-10 school year, compared with 33 percent and 21 percent of whites, respectively, according to an August report by the Civil Rights Project at UCLA.

Source:San Francisco Chronicle, 9/27/12, By Jill Tucker

[Editor's Note: In August 2012, Legal Clips summarized an article in the Courier-Post, which reported that the Camden Board of Education in New Jersey had agreed to pay $500,000 to settle a suit brought by seven Hispanic elementary school students, who were made to eat lunch on the floor as punishment for spilling a jug of water. The February 2008 incident stirred claims of bias and underscored tensions between the city’s black and Hispanic communities.

In July 2011, Legal Clips summarized an article in The Capital, which reported that the Anne Arundel County chapter of the NAACP had filed a formal civil rights complaint with ED that alleged African-American students continued to be disciplined in numbers out of balance with their enrollment. The NAACP complaint maintained that the disparity in minority disciplinary rates violated the 1964 Civil Rights Act and fell short of goals outlined in an 2005 agreement between county schools and civil rights advocates mediated by the Department of Justice Community Relations Services.

In January 2011, Legal Clips summarized an article in the Lebanon Daily News, which reported that the Pennsylvania chapter of the NAACP and the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia (PILC) had announced plans to file a lawsuit challenging Lebanon School District’s (LSD) truancy policy on the grounds it unfairly targeted minorities. The federal suit asked the court to force LSD to stop collecting and repay 500 truancy fines that the organizations alleged were excessive and issued illegally. The suit claimed that LSD levied $1.3 million in truancy fines in the past eight years, including almost $500,000 in 2008-09 school year. The fines were disproportionately levied against minorities, according to the charges.]

Tags: California, discipline policy, Office for Civil Rights, race discrimination, student discipline, suspension

9/20/12

Parent sues South Carolina district seeking installation of video cameras on buses

The Beaufort Gazette reports that the mother of two students, who she claims have been bullied, is suing Beaufort County School District (BCSD) and Durham School Services, the bus company, charging they have not done enough to protect her children. Christina Chandler, who had petitioned BCSD to put cameras on school buses, says she will now look to the courts to keep her children from being bullied.

The suit alleges that Chandler’s 6-year-old son and 8-year-old daughter have been repeatedly bullied on the bus since school began this year. Among the suit’s allegations are that Chandler’s children have been shoved into the aisle, elbowed, and kicked while on the bus. The suit also claims her daughter has been punched in the face, choked, scratched, had her hair pulled, and been called names.

The lawsuit asks that the school district and bus company take immediate action to stop the bullying. It also asks for a jury trial and compensation for emotional damages, lost wages, and medical bills.

Chandler recently presented a petition to the Beaufort County Board of Education in support of installing cameras on school buses. In response, the school board created a committee that has two months to study the issue and make a recommendation. Chandler has said 60 days is too long. “I’m doing everything that I can,” she said. “I’ve been trying to work with the school, and there hasn’t been any changes. No one has been willing to stop what has been happening.”

Source:The Beaufort Gazette, 9/17/12, By Rachel Heaton

[Editor's Note: In July 2011, Legal Clips summarized an article in the Arizona Daily Star, which reported that Tucson Unified School District’s (TUSD) board had voted unanimouslyto install 300 video cameras on its school buses at a cost in excess of $625,000. A 2008 management audit recommended that TUSD reduce bus monitors by 10 percent and install cameras on buses without monitors. Such a move could have saved the district nearly $500,000 a year.

In July 2010, Legal Clips summarized an article in the Ithaca Journal, which reported that a parent had filed suit against the Trumansburg Central School District (TCSD), in New York, for failing to protect her son from bullying that took place on a school bus after school. The events were captured by a video camera on the bus, which the complaint states shows the bus driver repeatedly looking in his rear view mirror and failing to stop the interaction between the two students.]

9/10/12

Mother of student who committed suicide due to peer harassment based on ethnicity and sexual orientation files wrongful death action against Indiana district

As reported on Wisconsin Gazette.com, the mother of a student who committed suicide afterbeing harassed and bullied by classmates for several years has filed a lawsuit. The suit alleges that the response of Greensburg Junior High School officials to harassment led Billy Lucas to take his life.

The suit was brought by Ann Lucas, Billy’s mother, and the defendants are the Greensburg Community School System and four employees – former Greensburg Junior High School principal Rodney King, current principal David Strouse and teachers Iris Ramp and Darci Kovacich. The suit, filed in federal court in Indianapolis, alleges that Billy was “subjected to relentless harassment, ridicule and bullying” at school for several years and that the harassment was over Lucas’ ethnicity and sexual orientation.

The suit states that Billy “had a right to be free from sexual harassment and discrimination based on sexual orientation while in any educational program or activity that receives federal financial assistance.” The complaint claims that the school employees knew about the harassment and failed to take steps to protect the boy. The employees also allegedly participated in the harassment.

The suit, charging wrongful death, states, ”The District failed to take reasonable measures to prevent (Billy Lucas) from being subjected to bullying when he was at school or a school-sponsored activity. As a direct result of the District’s negligence, (Billy Lucas) committed suicide.” Ann Lucas is asking for compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and other associated costs.

Source:Wisconsin Gazette.com, 9/10/12, By Staff