Superintendent Dorn, Dr. Ryans, and Ms White
This class action IDEA complaint addresses discrimination against Washington’s African-American students with disabilities that contributes to overrepresentation and punitive and exclusionary school discipline policies, practices and procedures that exact a significant disproportionate burden on African- American children with IEP.
Since the OSPI started measuring IDEA Part B Indicators in 2009, Black students have been overrepresented and over disciplined in special education programs, particularly under the intellectual disabilities (ID) and emotional behavior disturbance (EBD) categories at ratios up to 30 times those of White students with IEP. (See examples below)
This class action complaint on behalf of African-American children seeks to reverse the pervasive significant disproportionally that exists in more than a dozen of WA largest school districts.
It is not our responsibility to show that the school districts acted with the intent to discriminate against Blackstudents , but we will provide statistical behavior models (some from OSPI) that show a discriminatory effect in the treatment for Black Special Ed. students compared to White Special Ed. Students in the Pasco, Kennewick, Seattle, Evergreen, Tacoma, Auburn, Battle Ground, Tukwila, Federal Way, Highline, Everett, Renton, Bainbridge Island, Bellevue, Bellingham, Yakima, Central Valley, Shelton, Kent, Franklin-Pierce, and Arlington School Districts.
Our complaint is that the above named districts violated federal laws for implementing IDEA Part B:
Authority: 20 U.S.C. 1416(a) Sec. 300.646
Significant disproportionally in overrepresentation and suspension/expulsion is occurring in the named 19 LEAs of the State with respect to--
(1) The identification of children as children with disabilities, including the identification of children as children with disabilities in accordance with a particular impairment described in section 602(3) of the Act;
(2) The placement in particular educational settings of these children; and
(3) The incidence, duration, and type of disciplinary actions, including suspensions and expulsions.
In Washington schools, Black students with disabilities bear the burden of harsh overly punitive discipline practices and are less likely to receive more lenient punishment.
Two examples within the last 180 days demonstrate the dire consequences on Black Special Education students of disproportional disciplinary actions in the Federal Way and Highline School Districts.
In the attached 10-11 Federal Way Data which shows the most recent suspensions, removal and expulsions.According to Paula Curtis Executive Administrative Assistant Office of the Superintendent “ Not returning in the attached report means that the special education students have withdrawn from our district and no longer attends here”.
In the attached 2010-2011 Federal Way report, the school discipline for minority special education children was so severe, that out of the 471 Federal Way Middle School Special Education Students that received suspensions, emergency removals, and expulsions during the 2010-2011 school year, 91 Minority Special Education Students or 19% of those Special Education students discipline did not return to school following the discipline incident compared to just 2 White Minority Special Education Students. African-American Special Education Students are the biggest sub-group of the 93 Special Education students who did not return to school following a disciplinary incident.
In the attached Highline Public Schools SPED Discipline Incidents for 2010-2011 Discipline Incidents by Grade, 390 Highline Black Special Ed Students had 224 total suspensions or a 57% Suspension Rate, while 787 Highline White Special Ed Students had 200 total suspensions or a 25% Suspension Rate
Ethnicity
Spec Ed Count
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
11
|
12
|
Total
Suspend
M& F
|
Black 390
|
1
|
5
|
2
|
23
|
17
|
21
|
46
|
22
|
42
|
28
|
8
|
9
|
224
|
White 787
|
0
|
3
|
1
|
9
|
8
|
18
|
32
|
61
|
36
|
19
|
11
|
2
|
200
|
1. Highline’s Black Special Education Students were twice as likely to being suspended as Highline’s White Special Education Students.
2. Whereas the number of Highline White Special Education Students outnumbers Black Special Education Students 2 to 1, Black Male Special Education Students disproportionately received 30% of the total suspensions given while the much larger cohort of White Male Special Education Students received 29% of the total suspensions given.
While the intended outcome of special education placement and school suspension and expulsions of Black Special Education Students is to create compliant well behaved and educated students, the latent outcome is segregating, alienating, excluding, and criminalizing thousands of Black children with disabilities across Washington. These Black children with disabilities experience disproportionate levels of academic failure, school dropout, unemployment, substance abuse and disproportionate representation in the criminal justice system.
African-American children with IEP are suspended or expelled at two times the rate as White Children with IEP in Everett, Tacoma, Franklin Pierce, Mukilteo, Tukwila, Auburn and Arlington school districts.
African-American children with IEP are suspended or expelled at three times the rate as White Children with IEP in the Evergreen, Kent, Central Valley and Kennewick school districts.
African-American children with IEP are suspended or expelled at four times the rate as White Children with IEP in Seattle, Washington’s largest school district as well as the Issaquah, Battle Ground, school districts
African-American children with IEP are suspended or expelled at five times the rate as White Children with IEP in Bremerton and Shelton school districts.
African-American children with IEP are suspended or expelled at seven times the rate as White Children with IEP in Bellingham school district.
African-American children with IEP are suspended or expelled at 28 times the rate as White Children with IEP in Pasco school district.
African-American children are two times as likely to be classified as Special Education for Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD) as White Children in the large Tacoma school district.
African-American children are three times as likely to be classified as Special Education for Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD) as White Children in Bellevue, Evergreen Kent, Renton, and Pasco school districts.
African-American children are four times as likely to be classified as Special Education for Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD) as White Children in Franklin Pierce school district.
African-American children are five times as likely to be classified as Special Education for Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD) as White Children in Tukwila school district.
African-American children are six times as likely to be classified as Special Education for Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD) as White Children in Seattle, Washington largest school district.
African-American children are seven times as likely to be classified as Special Education for Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD) as White Children in Battle Ground School District
African-American children are nine times as likely to be classified as Special Education for Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD) as White Children in Bainbridge Island School District
African-American children are ten times as likely to be classified as Special Education for Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD) as White Children in Central Valley and Issaquah school districts.
African-American children are eighteen times as likely to be classified as Special Education for Emotional Behavior Disorders (EBD) as White Children in Kennewick
African-American children are two times as likely to be classified as Special Education for intellectual disability as White Children in Pasco, Auburn
African-American children are four times as likely to be classified as Special Education for intellectual disability as White Children in Bethel
African-American children are six times as likely to be classified as Special Education for intellectual disability as White Children in the Everett school district.
African-American children are six times as likely to be classified as Special Education for intellectual disability as White Children in Seattle, Washington largest school district.
African-American children are seven times as likely to be classified as Special Education for intellectual disability as White Children in the Central Valley and Battle Ground school districts..
African-American children are twelve times as likely to be classified as Special Education for intellectual disability as White Children in Kennewick.
African- American children are three as likely to be classified as Special Education for specific learning disability compared to a White child in Pasco
African- American children are twenty-two times as likely to be classified as Special Education for specific learning disability compared to a White child in Kennewick
Please let know where I can send statistical data models to support this class action IDEA complaint ? .
Steve Trubow
Olympic Behavior Labs
55 Seagull Drive
Port Angeles WA 98363
Last week we were asked to bring a personal artifact to a workshop. And after much hand-wringing over what item of personal significance to bring to a professional training, I opted for one of a pair of brass elephant sculptures given to me by Raj, a beloved colleague, several Christmases ago.
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