Training in dealing with trauma-affected students is sought for Compton schools
Compton Unified student Kimberly Cervantes is part of a class action lawsuit seeking academic and counseling services from the Compton Unified School District. Attorney Annie Hudson-Price looks on. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times)
Attorneys representing students who have suffered from violence and other trauma in a lawsuit against the Compton Unified School District asked a federal judge Thursday to immediately require teachers, administrators and staff to undergo training to recognize and understand the effect of such incidents on students.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of eight Compton Unified School District students, alleges that the school system has failed to properly educate students who have suffered from repeated violence and other trauma.
The litigation alleges that the district has failed to address the underlying obstacles these students face and have inadequately trained teachers and others to provide these students an appropriate education.
U.S. District Judge Michael W. Fitzgerald is expected to decide in coming weeks on whether to grant the injunction, which would require the training. He is also considering a request by the school district to dismiss the lawsuit altogether.
The litigation could test whether “complex trauma” qualifies as a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act. If the lawsuit is successful, school districts would be required to provide special academic and mental health services to students who have suffered from violence and other trauma.
The lawsuit describes in detail some of the traumatic episodes of several students, who were frequently disciplined and kicked out of schools and not given appropriate help and services to address their problems.
One student at the age of 8 first witnessed someone being shot to death. Since then, he has witnessed another 20 shootings, including the killing of a friend.
Another student, a Dominguez High junior, struggled academically after suffering physical violence from the boyfriends of his mother, a drug addict. He was kicked out of foster care and resorted to sleeping on the roof of the high school, the lawsuit said. After he was found by school officials, they offered no help to him, the lawsuit alleges.
The boy said he often grew enraged, sometimes believing a "demon" was within him.
Another student, Kimberly Cervantes, 18, a senior at Cesar Chavez Continuation School, stopped attending school for weeks at a time after several traumatic episodes, including being told by teachers that her bisexuality was "wrong," the suit said.
Mark Rosenbaum, an attorney with Public Counsel, a Los Angeles-based pro bono law firm that filed the lawsuit along with Irell & Manella LLP, urged the court to force the district to immediately provide the training.
"These students cannot wait for deliberations,” he said. “They are being stopped at the school house door. They come to school not even knowing they suffer from complex trauma but then they are treated differently Training in dealing with trauma-affected students is sought for Compton schools - LA Times: