Refugees in Pa. District Denied Access to Adequate Education, Lawsuit Argues
July 19, 2016 – by Corey Mitchell – Education Week
The American Civil Liberties Union and Education Law Center have filed a lawsuit against the Lancaster, Pa., schools, claiming the district barred English-language-learner refugee students from attending traditional high schools because of their age.
Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, the suit alleges that the older ELL students were turned away or forced to attend a privately operated alternative school rather than one of the district’s regular public high schools, often without explaining their decisions to students or their parents.
The Philadelphia-based law firm of Pepper Hamilton LLP will also represent the plaintiffs in the case— six refugee students who hail from Burma, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and Sudan.