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Of Note
See Texas Appleseed, Texas' School-to-Prison Pipeline, Dropout to Incarceration: The Impact of School Discipline and Zero Tolerance at 53-55 (Oct. 2007), available by clicking here (PDF).
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On December 3, 2009, the ACLU of Texas and co-counsel filed a class administrative complaint with the Texas Education Agency (TEA), asking the agency for an investigation of United Independent School District in Laredo for its systemic failure to provide essential behavioral support and intervention to students eligible for special education services. The complaint alleges that such students have instead been subjected to repeated disciplinary suspensions and expulsions for behavior related to their disabilities.
The complaint followed a lengthy investigation with coalition partners ACLU Racial Justice Project, Advocacy, Inc., Southern Disability Law Center and Southern Poverty Law Center.
Disciplinary data demonstrate that students with disabilities throughout the state of Texas are subjected to highly disproportionate rates of suspensions and expulsions -- and United ISD is among the worst offending districts. During the 2007-08 school year, data reported to TEA by United ISD reveals that, although students who qualify for special education services represented only 9.5 percent of the general student population, they represented 24 percent of all expulsions to Juvenile Justice Alternative Education Programs (JJAEPs) and 29 percent of all placements in Disciplinary Alternative Education Programs (DAEP). Additionally, these students represented 31 percent of all out-of-school suspensions (OSS) and 26 percent of all in-school suspensions (ISS) during the 2007-08 school year.
Moreover, an alarming number of individual United ISD students are suspended repeatedly for conduct that is directly related to their disabilities -- seriously delaying their academic progress and worsening their behavioral problems. During the 2007-08 school year, 465 special education students were suspended out-of-school 843 times, and 858 special education students were suspended in-school 2056 times.
The complaint was filed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) on behalf of three Latino students attending United ISD schools. The investigation suggests that language issues may exacerbate the difficulties faced by monolingual Spanish-speaking parents in the Laredo community who seek better treatment and educational support for their children with disabilities.
