Students, additional parents join lawsuit challenging Department of Education's abandoning of civil rights investigations

Plaintiffs have pending complaints with Office for Civil Rights, alleging sexual assault, harassment and discrimination based on race, gender identity and expression, and/or disability status

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Multiple parents and students, including two in middle school, from various states across the country have joined a federal lawsuit that seeks to restore the functions of the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) and reverse recent actions that effectively eliminate OCR’s ability to process and investigate civil rights complaints, according to an amended complaint filed today.

Each of the additional plaintiffs in the suit, filed by the National Center for Youth Law (NCYL) and Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates, Inc. (COPAA), have pending claims with OCR alleging discrimination on the basis of race, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and/or disability. The initial lawsuit was filed March 14.

"At a time when hostility toward the transgender community is at an all-time high, it is immoral and irresponsible for the agency charged with safeguarding students from discrimination to turn their back on these kids," said Melissa Combs, a parent plaintiff who was forced to move her child to a different school after her child was harassed due to their gender identity. "No student should have to experience what mine did, and no parent should have to take the extraordinary steps I’ve had to take to ensure my child’s equal access to an education."

Other parents expressed similar concerns.

"No parent should ever have to hear and know their child had to endure such experiences," said plaintiff Elizabeth Stewart-Williams, whose daughter received no support after being sexually harassed and discriminated against at school. "The OCR complaint process was our only pathway for help. The school district’s first reaction was to bury the incident and then retaliate against my daughter."

Stewart-Williams highlighted the plight of many parents and families.

"If the department and its investigative and protective roles are diminished, what remedies do our children truly possess?" she asked. "What justice exists? Who’s going to speak up when the voices of young victims are silenced and their pain minimized? These survivors are our future leaders and we must protect them now."
Amy Cupp, another parent plaintiff, has spent months advocating against the restraint and seclusion her 12-year-old daughter has faced at school. Cupp said she felt a sense of relief when OCR informed her it would investigate her complaint, but that feeling quickly vanished.

"We finally had hope," she said. "But it wasn’t very long before we learned that the OCR office was closed. It is crushing. It is cruel. Our schools and our government are supposed to protect our children, not cause harm or let harm happen.”

The amended complaint was filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the four students and five parents now joining the lawsuit, in addition to the original two parent plaintiffs and COPAA. Following substantial cuts to OCR, the lawsuit asks the judge to order the Department to restore OCR's capacity to fully conduct civil rights investigations as required by law, and for OCR to provide periodic updates to the court about its efforts to process and investigate civil rights complaints. 

"These brave students and families deserve justice, not to be abandoned by the very system put in place to support them," said Johnathan Smith, Chief of Staff & General Counsel with NCYL. "It is simply unconscionable that the administration and the Department of Education would so coldly turn its back on so many students and communities."

Added Selene Almazan, COPAA's Legal Director: “This administration must be held accountable for the destruction of these families’ access to OCR’s complaint investigation process.The abolishment of the OCR process for these families and thousands of other families has had a devastating effect on their lives and the lives of their children.”

The lawsuit details how OCR effectively deserted its core function of investigating complaints from students and families who allege discrimination and/or harassment on the basis of race, sex, and disability. Since March, the agency has been devastated by mass layoffs and closures of seven out of 12 of OCR’s regional offices, which have obstructed families’ access to OCR’s complaint and investigation process. 

The Department of Education has provided no information or apparent plan for how student and family rights will be protected. The plaintiffs allege that the actions of the Department of Education and OCR violate the U.S. Constitution's Equal Protection Clause and the federal Administrative Procedure Act.

Thousands of students and families turn to OCR annually as a last resort for oversight and accountability. While their complaints vary in nature, the response should not. These complaints deserve to be processed. They deserve to be investigated. These students and families deserve justice.

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The National Center for Youth Law centers youth through research, community collaboration, impact litigation, and policy advocacy that fundamentally transform our nation's approach to education, health, immigration, foster care, and youth justice. Our vision is a world in which every child thrives and has a full and fair opportunity to achieve the future they envision for themselves.

The Council of Parent Attorneys and Advocates is an independent, nonprofit organization of more than 3,500 parents, attorneys, advocates, and related professionals; more than 90% of whom identify as having a disability or are parents or family members of individuals with disabilities. COPAA members are active in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and several US territories and work to protect student civil rights and secure excellence in education on behalf of the nearly 9.5 million students with disabilities in America who have qualifying disabilities under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For more information, visit copaa.org.