(Sacramento, CA) - A group of plaintiffs that includes the Black Parallel School Board and several individual students has reached a settlement agreement with the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) in a lawsuit that challenged the district’s longstanding harmful practices of excluding and segregating students with disabilities, particularly Black students with disabilities.

The settlement was reached Friday in the class action suit, which was initially filed in 2019. The suit accused the district of discriminatory segregation of students with disabilities and Black students with disabilities into highly restrictive classrooms and schools, plus other harmful practices laid bare in a 2017 report, based on a district self-audit. The suit also highlighted the District’s failure to provide these students with the educational and supportive services that the law requires. Plaintiffs alleged this failure contributed to grossly disparate rates of suspension and expulsion of Black students—among the very worst in the state for Black boys in 2018-2019  — as well as for students with disabilities.

“In the 2018-2019 school year, Black students with disabilities at SCUSD were more than ten times more likely to be suspended from school than other students with disabilities — a group disciplined at much higher rates to begin with,” said Michael Harris, an attorney for the plaintiffs with the National Center for Youth Law. “This effectively deprives Black students with disabilities of their right to an equal education.”

Within months of filing the lawsuit, the plaintiffs were able to negotiate an interim agreement with the District.

“Shortly after we sued, the District sat down with us and then agreed to halt all suspensions based on ‘willful defiance’ for students from K-8 before it became state law, and lower the threshold for reviewing a student’s suspension to determine if the student’s behavior was due to a disability,” recounted Darryl White, Chair of plaintiff Black Parallel School Board. “Those reforms remain in effect today and the full settlement agreement we have now significantly builds on those early achievements.”

LaRayvian Barnes has a son who is a Black middle-schooler with autism attending SCUSD. As with generations of Black students with disabilities and their families in the District, they went through years of struggle to redress her son’s mistreatment and finally get him into the learning environment where he is now doing well with the help of a teacher who understands and supports him.

Barnes said she’s hopeful that “the settlement agreement will hold the District accountable to adopt policies, provide services, and create and maintain the right kind of integrated learning environments so that students like my son will not be punished and mistreated because of who they are, but instead can learn and thrive alongside their classmates from the start.”

Said Meeth Soni, an attorney for plaintiffs with Disability Rights California: “The settlement agreement’s accountability measures will help SCUSD ensure students with disabilities are receiving the services and supports they need to succeed in school rather than being segregated from their non-disabled peers or subjected to unfair exclusionary discipline.”

Said Meeth Soni, an attorney for plaintiffs with Disability Rights California: “The settlement agreement’s accountability measures will help SCUSD ensure students with disabilities are receiving the services and supports they need to succeed in school rather than being segregated from their non-disabled peers or subjected to unfair exclusionary discipline.”

Visit https://blackparallelschoolboard.com to learn more.

Read Full Settlement

What you should know about the BPSB v. SCUSD Settlement

The Black Parallel School Board and individual students (plaintiffs) sued the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) in 2019 to challenge the District’s harmful suspension and expulsion practices and practice of segregating students with disabilities and Black students with disabilities from their classmates.  On May 19, 2023, the plaintiffs and District signed a Settlement Agreement that resolves the lawsuit. The Agreement holds the District accountable by using an independent (non-District) monitor and an action plan with specific goals and timetables over a five-year period.

The following lays out the education rights that students with disabilities have and matches those rights to with the parts of the settlement agreement that support and help enforce them.

1. Your child has the right to:
Attend school in the least restrictive setting, and in inclusive and integrated classroom settings with their peers.

This settlement is designed to result in:

• Substantial reduction in the placement of students with disabilities in segregated settings.
• Substantial reduction in the placement of Black students with disabilities in segregated settings and in their high rate of segregated placement compared to their peers.
• Substantial increase in the placement of students with disabilities, in particular Black students with disabilities, in inclusive and integrated classrooms, schools, and school settings in the Least Restrictive Environment.

2. Your child has the right to:
Attend school safely, without facing harassment or bullying.

This settlement is designed to result in:

• Substantial reduction in incidence and rate of bullying and harassment of students with disabilities and Black students with disabilities.
• Improvement in implementation of school safety plans.

3. Your child has the right to:
Fair disciplinary policies.

This settlement is designed to result in:

• Substantial reduction of disciplinary referrals, including informal suspensions of students with disabilities and Black students with disabilities.
• Substantial reduction in the high rate of discipline of students with disabilities and Black students with disabilities compared to their peers.

4. Your child has the right to:
Have an IEP process that allows their parents and caregivers to fully participate and obtain the supports and services that each child needs

This settlement is designed to result in:
IEP meetings, development, and processes that:

• Are more transparent and accessible.
• Involve parents, guardians, and where appropriate, students as equal participants with the district.
• Include a decision-making process and checklist geared toward placement in the Least Restrictive Environment and high academic standards.
• Include District staff who know about and have the authority to identify and allocate appropriate programs, services, supports, and placement for students with IEPs.

5. Your child has the right to:
Receive behavior supports and services so that they can participate in class and school activities.

This settlement is designed to result in:

• The proper ratio of school psychologists to students to support proper behavior interventions and support services for students with disabilities.

6. Your child has the right to:
Have their behavioral needs identified and met in school so that they can fully and completely participate in school activities.

This settlement is designed to result in:

• Timely and appropriate Functional Behavioral Assessments (gathering relevant information about a student’s behavior to design an effective behavior support).
• Development and implementation of Behavioral Intervention Plans (a proactive action plan to address a student’s challenging behavior that is a barrier to that student’s learning or the learning of others).

7. Your child has the right to:
Have their learning and behavioral needs identified and assessed in a timely manner.

This settlement is designed to result in:

• District compliance with the obligation to refer students suspected of having a disability for special education assessment in a timely manner.
• Analysis of whether the use of Student Study Teams are effective.

8. Your child has the right to:
Attend school without the fear of unnecessary restraints or seclusion.

This settlement is designed to result in:

• Substantial reduction in the overall use of and disproportionate use of restraints and seclusion for students with disabilities and Black students with disabilities.

If you believe that your child’s rights are being violated, you may file a complaint with any of the following agencies depending on the nature of your complaint:

Uniform Complaint Procedure (UCP) Complaint, offers a local, district-level complaint process for parents and students whereby you file the complaint with the school district where the violation has occurred or is occurring. The district will then conduct its own investigation.  A SCUSD student may consider filing a UCP complaint for grievances against individual District employees, like teachers, principals, etc., or for issues that relate to bullying, harassment, and/or discrimination.. 

California Department of Education (CDE) Compliance Complaint, investigates a school district’s failure to comply with any part of federal or state special education law or procedure, including failures or violations that relate to an individual student’s Individual Education Plan (IEP). A compliance complaint is different from a due process hearing. A CDE compliance complaint is appropriate if you believe the school district, such as SCUSD, is not following special education laws or procedures or is not implementing what is already written into a student’s IEP. A CDE compliance complaint is not appropriate if you are challenging the adequacy of the student’s IEP or the District’s decision on what services or supports to provide. CDE will conduct an investigation and if the CDE decides in the student’s favor, CDE can either order the District on what it needs to do to comply and/or require the District to provide compensatory education.

Office of Civil Rights Complaint, U.S. Department of Education, is a federal agency that investigates complaints against public school districts for discrimination occurring on account of a student’s disability, race, color, national origin, sex, or gender.  An OCR complaint is therefore different than a CDE complaint because OCR investigates claims of discrimination under federal law whereas CDE investigates claims of noncompliance or violation of federal and state special education laws. A student should file an OCR complaint where they believe a district like SCUSD has discriminated against them on account of disability, race, color, national origin, sex, or gender.

If you need help advocating for your child, contact the following organizations:

Special Education Rights and Responsibilities (SERR), is a good starting point in advocating for your student. The SERR is a thorough, easy to follow, manual that explains federal and state special education law and answers most questions about the IEP process, student rights, and school duties and responsibilities.

Black Parallel School Board, a community organization providing advocacy and educational resources to support the educational growth and achievement of Black students within SCUSD.

Disability Rights California, is state-wide organization responsible for advocating and protecting the rights of individuals with disabilities, including students with disabilities. DRC’s Youth Practice Group represents a limited number of individuals in due process hearings annually. DRC operates an intake line 1-800-776-5746 that SCUSD students can contact for counsel and advice on any education related issue.

Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund, is the designated Parent Training and Information Center for Sacramento County and provide advocacy guidance and educational resources to students of disabilities and their families.

Media Contacts:

Melody Pomraning
Communications Director
Disability Rights California
916-504-5938
Melody.Pomraning@disabilityrightsca.org

Mona Tawatao
Legal Director
Equal Justice Society
415-288-8710
media@equaljusticesociety.org  

Rayvn McCullough
Black Parallel School Board
213-785-4208
rayvn@blackparallelschoolboard.com 

Monika Lee
Senior Communications Strategist
Western Center on Law & Poverty
858-353-7271
mlee@wclp.org  

Disability Rights California (DRC) – Is the agency designated under federal law to protect and advocate for the rights of Californians with disabilities. The mission of DRC is to defend, advance, and strengthen the rights and opportunities of people with disabilities.