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D.S. v. Department of Education
In 2005, AFC and Morrison and Foerster LLP filed a class action suit on behalf of a class of students who were illegally excluded from Boys and Girls High School. Plaintiffs claimed that the school improperly placed them on shortened class schedules, placed them in an auditorium for a shortened day of non-credit bearing classes, or otherwise excluded them from school. The three-year long class action lawsuit claimed that the school not only denied them a proper education but actually fostered an environment that encouraged students to fail or drop out.
In November 2008, as a result of a class action settlement negotiated by AFC and Morrison & Foerster, New York City’s Department of Education agreed to offer an extensive program of free instruction, counseling and vocational training to hundreds of current and former students of Boys & Girls, which is located in Brooklyn’s Bedford Stuyvesant neighborhood.
The services offered through the settlement include career training in a variety of practical job skills, including computers and information technology, office administration, paralegal training, plumbing, hairdressing and locksmithing, as well as literacy training, re-enrollment in high school, guidance and tutoring through a service center operated by the Medgar Evers College School of Professional and Community Development, and in some cases public or private GED preparation. The City agreed to cover tuition costs for students who enroll in vocational programs at some of New York’s established trade schools.
In addition, current and future Boys & Girls High School students will be protected from the recurrence of these exclusionary practices; the Department of Education has agreed to outside monitoring of the school through 2010.
In his November 25, 2008 opinion approving class certification and the settlement, Senior District Judge Jack Weinstein of the Eastern District of New York concluded, “Class and defense counsel have demonstrated extraordinary dedication to the children in the class and subclass. They and their principals are commended for helping the City of New York take this substantial stride on the road to equal educational opportunities, and to satisfying the United States Constitution as well as federal, state and local law.”
Selected Documents:
First Amended Complaint - December 13, 2005
Stipulation of Settlement - August 27, 2008
Schedule A to the Stipulation of Settlement
Preliminary Order - September 18, 2008
Complete Class Notice
Noticia Breve en Espanol
Order Certifying Class and Approving Settlement – November 25, 2008
Independent Monitor’s Report for the First Semester of the 2008-2009 School Year – May 11, 2009
Independent Monitor’s Report for the Second Semester of the 2008-2009 School Year – October 21, 2009
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