On September 5, 2019, the Black Parallel School Board and three students in the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD) filed a class action in United States District Court for the Eastern District of California. The plaintiffs sued SCUSD and a selection of its officers under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Title II Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VI), and state law. Represented by Disability Rights California, the National Center for Youth Law, Western Center on Law and Poverty, and the Equal Justice Society, the plaintiffs sought a court order for injunctive relief against SCUSD, declaratory judgment, class certification, and attorneys' fees. Specifically, they requested that SCUSD reform its policies and procedures to identify, offer, and provide accommodations and modifications to all eligible students. The plaintiffs claimed that SCUSD created and perpetuated an unlawful school system that results in modern-day segregation and mistreatment of students with disabilities, particularly Black students with disabilities, in violation of the ADA, Rehabilitation Act, Civil Rights Act, and Fourteenth Amendment.

In 2017, the Council of Great City Schools, a coalition of 75 of the nation’s largest urban public school systems, had released a report regarding the inadequate special education accommodations in the SCUSD. In 2018, nonprofit advocacy groups expressed their disappointment regarding SCUSD’s continuing failures and demanded immediate action. The plaintiffs' class-action lawsuit claimed that SCUSD had been notified of its discriminatory conduct years ago through the 2017 report, but SCUSD had not taken effective steps to eradicate the problems.

As of October 2019, the case is ongoing.

Elisabeth Ng - 10/24/2019


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