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Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Parent Group Files Lawsuit Charging LAUSD With Misuse of $2.5 Billion in Federal Title I Funds
December 12, 2011 The District Advisory Committee (DAC), a parent group established to advise and monitor the District’s use of federal Title I money, has filed a $2.5 billion class-action lawsuit against the District for dissolving the DAC and for aggressively banning them from Parent Centers and all LAUSD property.
The suit asks for an accounting and restitution of the $2.5 billion into a trust account and for the judge to affirm the right of the parent group to continue its work as the DAC.
The suit was filed on behalf of nearly 1.2 million parents whose children – 600,000 in the District – attend Title I schools in LAUSD. A school is deemed a Title I school if 75% of its students qualify for free or reduced lunches. Title I schools receive supplemental federal money to provide extra resources and learning opportunities for their students.
For the past 30 years, Title I parents have elected from among themselves representatives to serve on the DAC. The DAC is tasked under federal law and District policy to advise, monitor and partner with the District on the allocation of Title I funds.
But LAUSD Superintendent, Dr. John E. Deasy dissolved the DAC and banned it’s duly elected members from Parent Centers and all LAUSD property. In some instances, DAC members were visited at their homes and pulled out of meetings by LAUSD police, while others were threatened by District administrators with deportation.
“The DAC believes that Dr. Deasy’s unilateral attack against them and Title I parents is the culmination of several years of complaints by parents that LAUSD has failed to perform its obligations for parent involvement,” said Robert A. Brown, Esq., who is the attorney who filed the lawsuit.
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1 comment:
He cannot ban parents from the parent center, end of story. This is fascist in nature and betrays "Dr." Deasy as anything but a public servant. I tried to give this guy the benefit of the doubt, but clearly he is indifferent to the best interests of students.
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