Parents’ lawsuit forces California schools to track discrimination against students

By Carolyn Jones (CALMATTERS) – California will play a more active role in ensuring school districts don’t discriminate against students with disabilities, English learners and Black students, under a legal settlement announced this week. The agreement between the state and the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California requires state authorities to visit schools, interview teachers, look at individual students’ records and take more hands-on steps to see if a school has a pattern of discriminating. Specifically, the state will examine whether schools disproportionately suspend Black students or English learners, or deny services to students with disabilities. “Are we happy? Absolutely. For the first time, the state will now be required to strengthen its monitoring of school districts to prevent discrimination,” said Linnea Nelson, a senior staff attorney at the ACLU. When CalMatters asked for a comment on the settlement, the California Department of Education sent CalMatters another copy of the settlement. But it has already begun implementing some of the requirements in the settlement, and has set up a hotline for families and students to report discrimination, harassment, intimidation or bullying. Discrimination is illegal in California schools, but the state has not always taken an aggressive approach to tracking...