The St. Paul Public Schools discriminated against foreign-born students who were just beginning to learn English, a federal class-action lawsuit filed Friday alleges.
The St. Paul Department of Human Rights and Equal Economic Opportunity issued a finding of probable cause in May that the school district violated the city’s human rights ordinance by discriminating against a Como Park Senior High student because of his national origin. Now that student and his family have filed the lawsuit, claiming the school district’s “unlawful policies and practices are depriving these English-language learners of their right to equal educational opportunities and meaningful public education.”
A St. Paul Public Schools spokeswoman said they do not comment on pending litigation. The district said in June that its current training plan will ensure “all teachers, counselors and administrators receive substantial training in (English learner) language acquisition practices and culturally relevant pedagogy.”
About one-third of students in the St. Paul school district are categorized as English-language learners. The school district said earlier this year that it would make changes to its programs for English-learning students after a Minnesota Department of Education audit identified a long list of concerns, from improperly licensed teachers and suspect spending practices to insufficient support for students with intermediate language skills.
Last month, the school board approved a budget that will add 10 new teaching positions for English-language learners.
The lawsuit centers on the experiences of two brothers who are refugees of Karen ethnicity. Lor Ler Kaw was 15 and Lor Ler Hok Koh was 12 when they came to Minnesota from Thailand in 2012. Once in the United States, they had their first opportunity to attend school every day.
But the St. Paul Public Schools “implemented policies and practices” that have forced the two students, along with “other immigrant students with limited English proficiency to attend ‘mainstream’ classes, where they do not receive sufficient and effective language instruction,” the lawsuit says.
For example, during the 2014-2015 school year, Lor Ler Kaw was reading at a second-grade level, “but the school district scheduled him in mainstream 11th-grade English and social studies classes, sitting side-by-side with mainstream students who speak English fluently and who had nine or 10 years of consistent, formal education,” the lawsuit continued. “… His ability to learn the content of the courses was impaired because they exceeded his English level.”
The lawsuit also alleges the school district has discriminatory practices for special education and disability services for students who are English-language learners. Lor Ler Hok Koh, for instance, was not screened for a learning disability until his parents obtained a medical evaluation at their own expense.
“Despite a medical diagnosis, the school district repeatedly refused to conduct an evaluation” and “refused to recognize” that he qualified for special-education services, the lawsuit said. The district delayed providing him with disability services for 14 months, according to the suit.
The family said in a statement that they filed the lawsuit “to seek needed changes in the school district; to seek relief for the many refugee and immigrant families in our community who are facing discrimination.”
“Our family looks forward to the opportunity for the court to review the facts and to rule on the school district’s conduct toward some of the newest students to enter our country,” the family said.
The lawsuit, among other things, seeks to have the school district:
- Cease “mainstreaming” English-language learner students “until each student is individually determined to be ready to appropriately participate in each such ‘mainstream’ class”
- Immediately provide and implement “an appropriate, research-based ELL model”
- And provide all required special-education evaluations and services to ELL students in a timely manner.