January 23, 2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
media@aclu.org JACKSON, MS -- The American Civil Liberties Union of
Mississippi today announced that it will represent three displaced students from
New Orleans at a hearing before members of the Jackson Public Schools
disciplinary committee. The ACLU charged that school officials are
discriminating against the students by subjecting them to harsher disciplinary
action than students who live in Jackson.
“It is unfair to
criminalize students who have been through such a traumatic experience,” said
Nsombi Lambright, ACLU of Mississippi Executive Director. “These students
deserve a second chance to continue their education.”
The
students, two in the 10th grade and one in the 11th grade, moved to Jackson and
enrolled at Provine High School after their families lost their homes in New
Orleans as a result of Hurricane Katrina. The students were enrolled in the new
school for approximately two weeks when they got into a fight. Without fully
investigating the matter, the school administrators recommended expulsion for
all three students for the remainder of the school year, even though the usual
punishment is a 10-day suspension. School officials have not said what
disciplinary action, if any, was taken against the Jackson students involved in
the fight, according to the ACLU.
The students, two of whom have
special education needs, have been at home since November awaiting the
disciplinary hearing. If the district follows the school administrators’
recommendation and expels the students, they will be enrolled at Capital City
Alternative School for the remainder of the school year. The ACLU is fighting
for the students to be reinstated at Provine High immediately.
“I
just want my boys back in school,” says Erica Jolly, the mother of two of the
students. “We’ve been through enough; we’re trying to start our lives over
and getting a good education is key to that.”
As a member of the
Mississippi Coalition for the Prevention of Schoolhouse to Jailhouse, the ACLU
of Mississippi works with mental health advocates to develop proactive
approaches to provide counseling and other services to displaced students.
“Traumatic experiences can result in a host of chronic, sometimes
life-long, problems,” said Tonja Tarvin, a Trauma Specialist with the Trauma
Recovery Network, a project of Catholic Charities. “The condition of individuals
with pre-existing emotional and behavioral problems may be exacerbated if their
support systems fail, if they lack medications, and if their routine is
destabilized. When traumatized children receive appropriate services, they can
heal.”
The ACLU said it believes that by punishing the
displaced students more harshly than their peers, school officials are violating
the McKinney-Vento Act of 1987. The Act, which was reauthorized in 2002 by the
No Child Left Behind legislation, mandates that school districts must provide
special educational services to homeless children. Under this Act, displaced
people are considered homeless because of migratory living
conditions.
McKinney-Vento also makes available federal funding for
school districts to support and enhance their services. For more information on
the federal legislation, go to
www.nlchp.org/katrina.
Several other national groups have also discussed the trauma
associated with disasters and the need for special services for children. In a
report entitled, Responding to Natural Disasters: Helping Children and
Families, the National Association of School Psychologists stated, “Schools can
play an important role in this process by providing a stable, familiar
environment. Through the support of caring adults, school personnel can help
children return to normal activities and routines (to the extent possible), and
provide an opportunity to transform a frightening event into a learning
experience.”
More information about helping students who
have been traumatized is available online at
www.nasponline.org
