News & Commentary

In a letter sent today to Bristol-Warren School District officials, five organizations that advocate for the rights of students and children criticized the district’s decision to immediately bring a police officer into the school to tackle disciplinary problems, instead of quickly expanding resources that have been depleted over the years to address the social service needs of students. The organizations that signed the letter are the R.I. Disability Law Center, R.I. Legal Services, Providence Student Union, Parent Support Network of R.I., and the ACLU of R.I.

UPDATE, 3/12/19: The Central Falls City Council voted unanimously to repeal the ordinance.

The Providence school bus strike may be over, but the legal actions taken by three civil rights organizations last week to protect the rights of special education students harmed by the strike are not. Instead, the groups are working to ensure that parents of those students receive proper notification of their right to get prompt reimbursement for any transportation costs they incurred in getting their children to school, as well as their children's right to compensatory education for the time they missed classes.

The ACLU of Rhode Island, along with two other civil rights organizations, has today taken three separate legal steps with the R.I. Department of Education (RIDE) on behalf of students with disabilities who are caught up in the ongoing Providence school bus strike. The complaints allege that the failure of the school district to honor its responsibility under the students’ Individual Education Plans (IEPs) to provide transportation to and from school violates federal and state laws protecting the students’ rights.

The ACLU of Rhode Island, R.I. Legal Services, and the R.I. Disability Law Center issued the following statement in response to the Providence School District’s reply to the organizations’ October 1 letter calling on the District to make alternative transportation arrangements available to special education students for the duration of the school bus strike:

Three organizations that support the rights of students with disabilities have sent a letter to Providence school superintendent Christopher Maher, emphasizing the school district’s legal obligation to provide transportation to special education students during the city-wide school bus strike. The school district has claimed it has been unable to find alternative transportation, but will reimburse parents for the costs they incur in getting their children to school themselves.

UPDATE: 8/10/18 Within a day after the ACLU's lawsuit was filed, the school provided the ACLU the requested documents that formed the basis for the complaint. As a result, the ACLU has dismissed the lawsuit.

UPDATE: 7/27/18 The ACLU of RI and RI Legal Services are pleased that RI Commissioner of Education Ken Wagner rejected Warwick's request to charge students for, among other things, busing them to school.

With only one month remaining for RI school districts to implement comprehensive policies protecting transgender and gender non-conforming students, a recent public records inquiry by the ACLU of RI has found a handful of districts still have no policies in place or have implemented policies that miss the mark entirely.