Second Civil Rights Investigation by Feds

The Times updates the civil rights investigation by the DOE in SPS by noting there is now a second investigation into ELL students and school closures. 

From 2009 through the end of last year, the civil-rights office has launched about 100 civil-rights investigations involving at least one school district in nearly every state. 

Those investigations, known as compliance reviews, are just part of the office’s caseload, most of which stems from complaints filed by parents or community members. 

The department’s proactive efforts have won praise from those who say there was a drought of education civil-rights cases under the previous administration.

About ELL students:

In Seattle, the review of services for students learning English appears to have started in 2009.

A spokeswoman said that information she received from the education department also indicated that federal officials are looking at whether the district discriminated against some students when it closed several schools a number of years ago. The department seemed to have concerns about minority students and those learning English.

Comments

Unknown said…
I don't understand a lot of things about these investigations. In the article from March 5, Banda was quoted as saying he only found out about the discipline disproportionality a few weeks ago. As the superintendent, why wouldn't he have known this when he was hired instead of half a year later. That sort of indicates to me that no one in the administration took this investigation or the underlying concerns seriously.

Also, why is the investigation on ELL students that started in 2009 still ongoing? If there is a problem and they take 3-4 years to identify it and then set up a correction plan that takes several years to implement, a whole generation of students will have gone through the system while this was in progress.
Mary, I find that confusing as well.
Anonymous said…
Browne Dianis defended the education department’s decision to press school districts to change policies and practices that have discriminatory outcomes, regardless of whether officials intended to discriminate.

Great! I'm glad that somebody is actually starting to look at outcomes instead of the usual "equal outcomes are not guaranteed" crap. (Which usually really means, "My got got his, too bad for yours."

-reader

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