U.S.: Georgia illegally segregating students with disabilities in inferior buildings with inadequate instruction
The U.S. Justice Department is accusing the state of Georgia of segregating thousands of students with behavior-based disabilities from their peers in inferior buildings that formerly served as schools for black students back in the years of legal segregation. Furthermore, the students are receiving unequal educational opportunities but instead many are getting only computer-based lessons rather than direct instruction from a certified teacher.
The department sent a letter (see below) to Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal and Georgia Attorney General Sam Olens on July 15, detailing an investigation it had done into decades-old Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support and its compliance with Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on the letter here.
A spokesman for the Georgia Department of Education said he could not comment on whether state officials have responded to the Justice Department. Daryl Robinson, spokesman for Olens, said in an e-mail: “We have been in contact with the Department of Justice since receiving the letter, but we have not responded formally in writing. For the time being we do not intend to comment further on this matter.”
The Georgia Network for Educational and Therapeutic Support program (GNETS) started in 1970 in a single educational center in Athens, and now consists of a network of “psycho-education centers” in 24 regions around the state with a total of about 5,000 students at any given time. The letter, which notes that state officials cooperated with the probe, says that investigators concluded that the state has violated ADA’s Title II, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in nearly all services, programs, and activities provided to the public by state and local governments. It also describes the effects of the program, quoting one as saying, “School is like prison where I am in the weird class.”
It says in part:
Students in the GNETS Program also often lack access to electives and extracurricular activities, such as after-school athletics or clubs. Moreover, many of the students in the GNETS Program attend school in inferior facilities in various states of disrepair that lack many of the features and amenities of general education schools, such as gymnasiums, cafeterias, libraries, science labs, music rooms, or playgrounds. Some GNETS Centers are located in poor-quality buildings that formerly served as schools for black students during de jure segregation, which have been repurposed to house the GNETS Program.
As for how the segregation affects students, the letter says in part:
U.S.: Georgia illegally segregating students with disabilities in inferior buildings with inadequate instruction - The Washington Post:The negative effects of inappropriate segregation faced by students in the GNETS Program are readily apparent. One student in the GNETS Program stated, “school is like prison where I am in the weird class.” He attributes this in large part to isolation and distance from other students in the general education community, as he does not have the opportunity to
