LEWISTON, Maine — An investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice has determined that Lewiston Public Schools engaged in "systemic and discriminatory practices" with students with disabilities and students who are learning English.
Under terms of a settlement announced Thursday, the school department must end its practice of shortened school days for students with disability-related behavior issues and must provide equal educational opportunities to "English learner students."
In a release Thursday, the Department of Justice said the settlement will "end the district's systemic and discriminatory practice of excluding students from full-day school because of behavior related to their disabilities."
The DOJ found that the district "routinely shortened the school day for students with disabilities without considering their individual needs or exploring supports to keep them in school for the full day," and that lack of staff training on how to properly respond to disability-related behavior contributed to "over-reliance" on shortened days.
"The district compounded the harm to students by often failing to provide them with instruction or behavior support" when they were out of school, and failed to provide appropriate services to English language learner students, the DOJ found.
According to the investigation, many English language students "remained in the district's English learner program for years without ever becoming fluent in English," leading to significant educational setbacks.
“Giving students with disabilities half the education they are entitled to is unacceptable," Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the DOJ Civil Rights Division said in the release. "Failing to properly serve children who are learning English limits their opportunities for success in their current school and beyond."
The DOJ investigation was spurred by a complaint by Disability Rights Maine alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act.
The ACLU of Maine, Kids Legal at Pine Tree Legal Assistance, and the Cumberland Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Maine School of Law joined in the complaint.
In a release Friday, the plaintiffs lauded a requirement that the schools must determine whether previous abbreviated school days actually addressed underlying concerns.
“This agreement is an important recognition of the harm, and absurdity, of abbreviated school day placements," Disability Rights Maine managing attorney Atlee Reilly said in the release. "Schools across Maine have been responding to clear indications of student need by offering those students less time in school. This makes no sense and, as DOJ recognized, can often result in discrimination against students with disabilities. This practice should end today.”
Attorney Connor Cory of Kids Legal at Pine Tree Legal Assistance said in a release that the term abbreviated school days "is really a euphemism for school exclusion" and "a practice that harms the most vulnerable students, and pushes them further away from needed resources rather than pulling them in."
Lewiston Public Schools Superintendent K. Jake Langlais said in a statement Thursday that the agreement "is a real opportunity."
"We have found growth and success through the work that has happened over the last several years," he wrote, praising school staff and leadership for the "success" and "improvement" of the schools.
Langlais said the system has changed practices around abbreviated days and "language learners," added professional learning opportunities, and "continue[s] to grow in social emotional/restorative practices."
Langlais did not immediately return a phone call seeking additional information on the changed practices.
