Published
3 years agoon
The ACLU of Northern California says Fresno Unified School District violated the civil rights of English learners and failed to follow California Department of Education and district requirements when it failed to remove language barriers that limit parent participation, including helping the district decide how to allocate its resources.
The complaint, filed Tuesday on behalf of Familias Empoderadas (Empowered Families), is requesting a series of remedies that include employing one-on-one tutors for all long-term English learners and creating a club for parents of English learners.
Fresno Unified spokeswoman Vanessa Ramirez said Wednesday afternoon that the district received the document late Tuesday.
“It would be premature to comment before our team has had time to fully review” it, Ramirez said in an email.
The ACLU complaint alleges that Fresno Unified:
Familias Empoderadas, which has been advocating for improvements for English learners, “had to fight to get the Board to even send school board meeting agendas in languages other than English, including access to a publicly-available translation of the District’s Master Plan for English Learners,” the complaint says.
The complaint cites statistics showing that nearly all English learners are failing to meet state standards in English and math, and are likelier to drop out before graduation from high school.
It alleges that English learners have been “marginalized” in the process in which the district determines how to fund programs, known as the Local Control and Accountability Plan.
Those plans are on hold in the 2020-21 school year because of the coronavirus pandemic and have been replaced by another LCAP — the Learning Continuity and Attendance Plan, which districts must present to the Department of Education by September. Like the original LCAP, the new plan is supposed to have stakeholder participation.
Among the remedies sought by the ACLU complaint:
Nancy Price is a multimedia journalist for GV Wire. A longtime reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in California, Florida, Alaska, Illinois and Kansas, Nancy joined GV Wire in July 2019. She previously worked as an assistant metro editor for 13 years at The Fresno Bee. Nancy earned her bachelor's and master's degrees in journalism at Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism. Her hobbies include singing with the Fresno Master Chorale and volunteering with Fresno Filmworks. You can reach Nancy at 559-492-4087 or Send an Email
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