ACLU of Virginia: We've reached a settlement in our case about peer masking in Virginia public schools affirming that masking is a reasonable modification for students with disabilities that put them at severe risk if they contract COVID.

 In February of last year, 12 parents of students with disabilities filed a lawsuit against Governor Youngkin's Executive Order 2 & Senate Bill 739.

These directives restricted schools from requiring community masking to combat COVID spread & keep kids with disabilities safe. 

In March, a court preliminarily granted these parents the ability to request & receive community masking accommodations.

The parties have reached a settlement that we are waiting for the court to accept that will ensure kids with disabilities can be accommodated at school. 

Under federal disability law, schools MUST make accommodations if a child with a disability requires peer & teacher masking, regardless of the requirements of Executive Order 2 & Senate Bill 739.

Kids with disabilities deserve the same access to education as their peers. 

We are glad to be working with @BrownGoldLevy, @disAbilityLawVA, @arnoldporter, & @WashLaw4CR to move this case forward.

Read more about this lawsuit and its settlement:

Parents and State Settle Lawsuit on School Masking Accommodations for Students with Disabilitieshttps://www.acluva.org/en/press-releases/parents-and-state-settle-lawsuit-school-masking-ac

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Rift Deepens Between Montgomery County Silver Spring Senator Will Smith and the ACLU

A blog post published earlier this month by the American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland has widened a growing rift between the venerable organization and Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee Chair William C. Smith Jr. (D-Montgomery).

Dana Vickers Shelley, executive director of the ACLU of Maryland and author of the blog post, alleged that differences in opinion on legislative matters have prompted Smith to impose a “No ACLU Rule” — meaning he won’t meet with representatives of the civil rights organization.

“The goal of the ACLU of Maryland is to dismantle white supremacy and its systems that intentionally marginalize the needs and vision of people most impacted by injustice,” she wrote in the blog post, which carried the headline, “White supremacy is the foul soup we all swim in — and we’re done treading water.”..

https://www.marylandmatters.org/2022/03/24/rift-deepens-between-sen-smith-and-the-aclu/

"Taxing the Ignorant" - ACLU Finally Steps Up to Defend MD Students' Right to a Free Public Edcuation

The Parents' Coalition of Montgomery County, MD has repeatedly contacted the Maryland ACLU over the last 12 years to request assistance in eliminating illegal curricular fees in Montgomery County Public Schools.  The response from the ACLU was that they did not have the time to address this issue.  They believed the elected officials in Montgomery County would step up and do the right thing by our public school children. One ACLU representative termed illegal curricular fees charged by the Montgomery County Board of Education as:

"taxing the ignorant."

That implies that parents who know Maryland law will not pay illegal fees.  And that is exactly what has happened in Montgomery County.  Parents that know the law, don't pay the illegal curricular fees charged by MCPS.  Parents that are ignorant of the Maryland Constitution's guarantee of a free public education for all have been paying the illegal fees.  

Here is the lawsuit filed this week in Prince George's County regarding the fees the public school system charges for students to attend public school classes in the summer.

Rozon v. Prince Georges Cty... by on Scribd

Prince George’s County students challenge summer-school fees, fighting for free public education

When Laurie Tucker’s family moved during her son’s senior year of high school, she was sorry to hear the last two classes he needed weren’t offered at his new school during spring semester. Instead of graduating, he has to finish up in summer school.

An even worse surprise: The family will have to pay for those classes.

On Thursday, students sued the suburban Maryland school system where Tucker’s son attends class in a bid to lift summer-school fees.

Students shouldn’t be able to graduate only if they can afford to, said Tucker, whose son is one of the plaintiffs arguing the right to a free public education is guaranteed under the Maryland Constitution.

Tucker was shocked by the price for summer school in Prince George’s County: $225 per class, which will be a burden for her family. Her husband works as a driver delivering donations to nonprofit agencies, she said, to support their three children; she stopped working two years ago to care for their youngest child, who is 4 years old and has a disability.

Prince George’s schools spokeswoman Raven Hill said it is policy to not comment on pending litigation. But she confirmed the fees: $100 per half credit, with a $25 registration fee, for county students. Those who qualify for free- or reduced-price meals because of their families’ income levels are required to pay only half of those amounts.

Students from outside the county are charged more, $645 for a full credit plus the $25 registration fee. Hill said the fees are mainly to cover the cost of paying employees who don’t normally work over the summer...

https://www.washingtonpost.com/education/2019/06/13/prince-georges-county-students-challenge-summer-school-fees-fighting-free-public-education/?utm_term=.0e2c402a5980

Montgomery County Council President Admits Public Hearings are Staged

Thanks to County Council President Hans Riemer for admitting in print what the Council has been doing for years.  County Council public hearings are not public at all, but staged to support the pre-determined Council position.  Likewise, County agencies take their lead from the County Council and exclude public comment in favor of industry representatives speaking freely and often at Tower Committee meetings.   

...Council President Hans Riemer (D-at large) said members from his staff picked the people who testified at the meeting based upon the analysis of the bill they gave in their requests to speak at the public hearing.

“We wanted people who had some content... Those who were here had written us extensive emails, you know, even providing a thorough analysis of the issue, so we felt that they would be constructive and helpful.”...

...But even when members of the public can ask to speak, it is not an absolute right.

“Just because you request does not mean you we will be accepted,” Reimer said...

http://www.thesentinel.com/mont/news/local/item/6240-ficker-banned-from-speaking-claims-bias

ACLU SEEKING MCPS STUDENTS

The American Civil Liberties Union of Maryland is hoping to talk to students who were suspended or expelled from Montgomery County schools for non-violent, non-threatening behavior. 

If you or somebody you know has a kid(s) who was suspended or expelled for things like not doing classwork, wandering the halls, etc., please call me at 718-510-6289 or e-mail aclustoryfinder@gmail.com

Many thanks!

Sincerely yours, 
Alisa Roth

ACLU says school fees illegal

...In June, the ACLU of Michigan sent a letter to the Ann Arbor Public Schools opposing the district's plan to start charging high school students $100 per semester to take a seventh-hour class. Although that seventh hour is technically optional, the ACLU argued that students use that time to take classes they need to graduate, so they shouldn't be charged.
"Ann Arbor Public Schools has essentially created a two-tiered educational system where those who can pay benefit and those who cannot receive a lesser educational experience all together," executive director Kary L. Moss said in a statement...

 http://www.cnbc.com/id/100942455

Gazette: ACLU sees progress in Damascus student’s Pledge case

Group expects to meet with school officials to discuss issue

ACLU Slams Montgomery County Schools For Refusing to Discuss How to Stop Pledge of Allegiance Harassment

Now here's a shock. The ACLU got a dismissive response from the lawyer for MCPS.  Well, ACLU, join the club.  The BOE pays top dollar for outside counsel to write those dismissive responses that get the BOE in more trouble than when the issue started.  

DAMASCUS, Md. – Troubled by a dismissive response from the lawyer for Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) to the ACLU’s April 9, 2013 letter concerning a pattern of harassment experienced by MCPS students who decline to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance (Pledge), the ACLU renewed its call for a meaningful dialogue with the school system to discuss how to ensure that students’ First Amendment rights are honored by teachers and administrators. The letter sent today to the Superintendent follows up on the call for a meeting prompted by the latest such incident, brought to MCPS’s attention last month, which involved intimidation and harassment directed at a Damascus High 10th grader who declined to participate in the Pledge as a way of expressing her opposition to U.S. government policies concerning Puerto Rico, where her family is from...

...On behalf of the school system, attorney Judith Bresler asserts that school officials did nothing wrong in confronting Ms. Siurano-Rodriguez, denies that there is any systemic problem, and has refused to respond to our request for a meeting with MCPS staff to discuss our larger concerns, or to detail what steps have been or will be taken to meaningfully address the repeated complaints...

 http://www.aclu.org/free-speech/aclu-slams-montgomery-county-schools-refusing-discuss-how-stop-pledge-allegiance

ACLU DEFENDS MONTGOMERY COUNTY STUDENT HARASSED FOR NOT STANDING FOR PLEDGE

DAMASCUS, MD - Despite free speech guarantees in the Bill of Rights, state law, and in the Montgomery County School System's Regulations, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Maryland once again is having to take action on behalf of a student in Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) who was repeatedly harassed and intimidated by teachers and an assistant principal for declining to stand while the Pledge of Allegiance (Pledge) is recited. This incident is the fourth time the ACLU has contacted Montgomery County Public Schools concerning students' rights to decline to participate in the Pledge of Allegiance since 2005, and the fifth such occurrence reported to us from Montgomery County in the same time period.

http://www.aclu-md.org/press_room/128

NYT: Public Schools Face Lawsuit over Fees

Yesterday's New York Times had a great article on a situation in California eerily similar to that of our own Montgomery County, Maryland.  In California, however, the ACLU is suing 35 school districts in California that " list on their Web sites the fees their schools charge for courses including art, home economics, and music, for Advanced Placement tests and for materials including gym uniforms."  According to Mark Rosenbaum, the ACLU's legal director in Southern California, "We found that the charging of fees for required academic courses is rampant."  The lawsuit names Governor Arnold Schwartzenegger as a defendent "arguing that it was his responsibility to crack down on school districts imposing illegal feels."

"The idea of educating every child at public expense ranks with political democracy as one of the United States’ great original social contributions,” said Mark Rosenbaum, Chief Counsel of ACLU/SC. “Each of these ideas rests on a hallowed belief that every child is capable of reaching his or her fullest potential only when we encourage and honor accomplishment based on merit and hard work and disavow class distinctions.”

Read the entire filing here:

555793 ACLU Full Complaint