ACLU and Education Law

Center Sue School District

of Lancaster for Illegally
Denying Immigrant Youth
an Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEJuly 19, 2016

CONTACT: Sara Mullen, ACLU of Pennsylvania, 215-592-1513

x122, smullen@aclupa.orgSpencer Malloy, Education Law
Center, (215) 238-6970 x312, smalloy@elc-pa.org

LANCASTER, PA - The ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Education Law

Center, and pro bono counsel Pepper Hamilton LLP filed a federal
lawsuit today alleging that the School District of Lancaster
(SDOL) has been illegally refusing to enroll older immigrant
students with limited English proficiency (LEP) or diverting them
to an inferior, privately operated disciplinary school, rather than
allowing them to attend the districts regular high school. The
plaintiffs include six refugees aged 17-21 from Somalia, Sudan,
Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burma who have fled war,
violence, and persecution in their native countries.

Under Pennsylvania law, every child aged 6 through 21 has the

right to a free public education in that childs school district of
residence. Under federal and state law, school districts are
obligated to provide students whose primary language is not
English with appropriate bilingual or English as a second
language (ESL) instruction and language supports.

Our clients have already experienced much trauma and loss

before arriving in this country. Rather than helping them make
the difficult adjustment by providing educational resources
required by law, the school district has denied them an education
completely or forced them into an alternative school, where they
are often bullied and dont learn, said Reggie Shuford, executive
director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania.

According to the complaint, the school district has refused to

enroll the plaintiffs at McCaskey, the regular public high school,
even though it has a transitional program called the
International School, which is specifically designed to address
the needs of LEP students who are new to the country. Instead,
the district rejects their enrollment completely or, if they persist,
assigns them to Phoenix Academy, an alternative high school for
underachieving students run by a private company, Camelot
Education.

According to the complaint, Phoenix Academy is run more like a

disciplinary school than a traditional public high school. Students
are subject to pat-down searches, prohibited from bringing
belongingsincluding books, papers, bags, food, cash over $10, or
cell phonesinto or out of the school, forced to wear colored
shirts that correspond with behavior, expected to confront peers
exhibiting negative behavior and keep logs tallying these
confrontations, and can be subjected to physical restraint, as part
of the schools disciplinary policies. Phoenix Academy does not
offer any special transitional programs for students who are new
to the country and do not speak English fluently, and does not
have any certified ESL teachers.

Many immigrant LEP students placed at Phoenix drop out

because the district does not provide them with sufficient
supports to overcome language barriers to enable them to learn
the core curriculum, and because of unchecked, persistent

bullying in a severe, authoritarian environment that is particularly

ill-suited for refugees.

We are asking the court to uphold the clear right of these

children to a meaningful and equal education in their few
remaining school yearsto give them the chance to learn English
and build essential skills and knowledge, said Maura McInerney,
senior staff attorney at the Education Law Center. By refusing to
enroll these students or placing them in an inferior educational
program that cannot meet their language and learning needs, the
district deprives them of the opportunity to make a successful a
life in their new country.

The lead plaintiff in the case is Khadidja Issa, an 18-year-old

refugee from Sudan who arrived in the U.S. in September 2015.
When she and her mother arrived in the United States, neither
spoke, read, wrote, or understood English. SDOL initially refused
to enroll Issa in any district school. After several months SDOL
relented but forced Issa to attend Phoenix Academy. Issa wants
badly to learn English but has not been able to accomplish that
goal at Phoenix. Issa regularly feels scared and like a prisoner
due to the environment at Phoenix. No one at Phoenix speaks Fur
or Arabicthe two languages Issa understandsand Phoenix staff
have never employed a qualified interpreter or translated any
documents to help her understand anything happening at school.

In addition to the complaint, plaintiffs also filed a motion to

certify the case as a class action.

The problem of school districts refusing to enroll LEP students or

placing them in sub-standard programs appears to be increasing
around the country. This is the third federal lawsuit filed on this
issue in the past fifteen months, with earlier cases filed against
school districts in Utica, New York, and Collier County, Florida.

The case is Issa v. School District of Lancaster. The students are

being represented by Witold J. Walczak and Molly Tack-Hooper
of the ACLU of Pennsylvania; Maura McInerney, Kristina
Moon, and Alex Dutton, of the Education Law Center; Eric
Rothschild, Kathleen Mullen, Megan Morley, and Kaitlin M.
Gurney at the law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLC; and Seth
Kreimer of the University of Pennsylvania Law School.

More information about the case, including a copy of the

complaint, can be found at www.aclupa.org/issa

More information about plaintiffs counsel can be found at:

www.aclupa.org
www.elc-pa.org
www.pepperlaw.com