SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
Protestors demonstrate as Education Secretary Betsy DeVos speaks at Harvard University on September 28, 2017. (Photo: Paul Marotta/Getty Images)
As Advocates See Hundreds of Civil Rights Cases Dismissed by Trump's Education Dept, National Groups Take on DeVos
"These were all complaints that were legitimate. I guess we have selective civil rights in the United States now."
Jun 01, 2018
Weeks after civil rights advocates began receiving notifications from the Department of Education that their cases regarding discrimination in schools were being dismissed, three national groups filed a lawsuit Thursday arguing that the department's new complaint guidelines are undermining its own obligation to investigate civil rights violations.
"You don't have be an attorney to know these revisions are unlawful," Marcie Lipsitt, a disability rights advocate, told Education Week. "They go against the [Office for Civil Rights'] mission statement. "These provisions strip every American of their civil rights and their ability to file civil rights complaints. And the beauty of civil rights complaints has been that everyone has been able to file one."
Claiming that civil rights complaints can place an "unreasonable burden" on its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as revised the department's procedures. The new guidelines allow officials to dismiss hundreds of complaints regarding unfair treatment of students of color, inadequate resources for students with disabilities, and other forms of systemic discrimination. The appeals process for resolutions has also being eliminated.
The NAACP, the National Federation of the Blind, and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates argue that the changes are unlawful and have asked a judge to block the department from enforcing the new guidelines.
Filing complaints with the DOE has been "one way, sometimes the only way, for vulnerable people who can't afford to litigate, to get their cases heard, and that's being taken away," Eve Hill, the plaintiff's lawyer, told the New York Times.
The new policy will allow the dismissal of cases that fit a "pattern" of multiple complaints filed by individuals or advocacy groups.
For example,Lipsitt--who has been labeled a "frequent flier" by the department--has successfully reached more than 1,000 agreements with schools in which the institutions have agreed to make their websites accessible to people who are deaf or blind. About 500 of Lipsitt's new complaints have been dismissed, the Times reported.
"No one even knew about this issue until I started filing," Ms. Lipsitt told the Times last month after the DOE introduced its new procedures. "I didn't want to get anybody in trouble. I just wanted to raise awareness."
Joey Poirier, a special education advocate who's filed dozens of civil rights complaints against school districts in Florida, has also been notified that 10 of his open cases have been closed due to the new procedure.
"These weren't fraudulent, bogus complaints--these were all complaints that were legitimate," Poirier told the74million.org, an education news website. "I guess we have selective civil rights in the United States now."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Weeks after civil rights advocates began receiving notifications from the Department of Education that their cases regarding discrimination in schools were being dismissed, three national groups filed a lawsuit Thursday arguing that the department's new complaint guidelines are undermining its own obligation to investigate civil rights violations.
"You don't have be an attorney to know these revisions are unlawful," Marcie Lipsitt, a disability rights advocate, told Education Week. "They go against the [Office for Civil Rights'] mission statement. "These provisions strip every American of their civil rights and their ability to file civil rights complaints. And the beauty of civil rights complaints has been that everyone has been able to file one."
Claiming that civil rights complaints can place an "unreasonable burden" on its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as revised the department's procedures. The new guidelines allow officials to dismiss hundreds of complaints regarding unfair treatment of students of color, inadequate resources for students with disabilities, and other forms of systemic discrimination. The appeals process for resolutions has also being eliminated.
The NAACP, the National Federation of the Blind, and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates argue that the changes are unlawful and have asked a judge to block the department from enforcing the new guidelines.
Filing complaints with the DOE has been "one way, sometimes the only way, for vulnerable people who can't afford to litigate, to get their cases heard, and that's being taken away," Eve Hill, the plaintiff's lawyer, told the New York Times.
The new policy will allow the dismissal of cases that fit a "pattern" of multiple complaints filed by individuals or advocacy groups.
For example,Lipsitt--who has been labeled a "frequent flier" by the department--has successfully reached more than 1,000 agreements with schools in which the institutions have agreed to make their websites accessible to people who are deaf or blind. About 500 of Lipsitt's new complaints have been dismissed, the Times reported.
"No one even knew about this issue until I started filing," Ms. Lipsitt told the Times last month after the DOE introduced its new procedures. "I didn't want to get anybody in trouble. I just wanted to raise awareness."
Joey Poirier, a special education advocate who's filed dozens of civil rights complaints against school districts in Florida, has also been notified that 10 of his open cases have been closed due to the new procedure.
"These weren't fraudulent, bogus complaints--these were all complaints that were legitimate," Poirier told the74million.org, an education news website. "I guess we have selective civil rights in the United States now."
Weeks after civil rights advocates began receiving notifications from the Department of Education that their cases regarding discrimination in schools were being dismissed, three national groups filed a lawsuit Thursday arguing that the department's new complaint guidelines are undermining its own obligation to investigate civil rights violations.
"You don't have be an attorney to know these revisions are unlawful," Marcie Lipsitt, a disability rights advocate, told Education Week. "They go against the [Office for Civil Rights'] mission statement. "These provisions strip every American of their civil rights and their ability to file civil rights complaints. And the beauty of civil rights complaints has been that everyone has been able to file one."
Claiming that civil rights complaints can place an "unreasonable burden" on its Office for Civil Rights (OCR), Education Secretary Betsy DeVos as revised the department's procedures. The new guidelines allow officials to dismiss hundreds of complaints regarding unfair treatment of students of color, inadequate resources for students with disabilities, and other forms of systemic discrimination. The appeals process for resolutions has also being eliminated.
The NAACP, the National Federation of the Blind, and the Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates argue that the changes are unlawful and have asked a judge to block the department from enforcing the new guidelines.
Filing complaints with the DOE has been "one way, sometimes the only way, for vulnerable people who can't afford to litigate, to get their cases heard, and that's being taken away," Eve Hill, the plaintiff's lawyer, told the New York Times.
The new policy will allow the dismissal of cases that fit a "pattern" of multiple complaints filed by individuals or advocacy groups.
For example,Lipsitt--who has been labeled a "frequent flier" by the department--has successfully reached more than 1,000 agreements with schools in which the institutions have agreed to make their websites accessible to people who are deaf or blind. About 500 of Lipsitt's new complaints have been dismissed, the Times reported.
"No one even knew about this issue until I started filing," Ms. Lipsitt told the Times last month after the DOE introduced its new procedures. "I didn't want to get anybody in trouble. I just wanted to raise awareness."
Joey Poirier, a special education advocate who's filed dozens of civil rights complaints against school districts in Florida, has also been notified that 10 of his open cases have been closed due to the new procedure.
"These weren't fraudulent, bogus complaints--these were all complaints that were legitimate," Poirier told the74million.org, an education news website. "I guess we have selective civil rights in the United States now."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.