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DOE Confirms ACLU-NJ Complaint Regarding Racial Discrimination

For Immediate Release
May 31, 2006

NEWARK, N.J. -- The American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey today applauded a state Department of Education report confirming ACLU-NJ allegations that the Lakewood School District discriminated on the basis of race in its preschool special education program.

The ACLU-NJ uncovered disparities in Lakewood's special education program after reviewing enrollment statistics for the 2002-2003 and 2003-2004 school years. For example, even though white students made up only 55 percent of the overall preschool special education population in Lakewood, they received 98 percent of the more expensive, out-of-district placements, according to enrollment statistics obtained by the ACLU-NJ.

"The numbers showed a clear pattern of discrimination on the basis of race," said ACLU-NJ Legal Director Ed Barocas. During at least two consecutive school years, only one of 94 nonwhite preschool special education students was sent to an out-of-district placement while more than half of the 123 white preschool special education students were sent to the more expensive out-of-district placements. "It was as if they were being treated as two different classes of students," Barocas said.

Further, the evidence showed that most of the white students were sent to one particular school -- the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence -- that appeared to have enrolled only white students.

On June 16, 2005, the ACLU-NJ filed an official complaint with the New Jersey Department of Education (DOE) in order to give the agency an opportunity to help resolve the matter without having to go to court.

The ACLU-NJ complaint to the state Commissioner of Education stated that, as the statistics made clear, "whether done intentionally or de facto, Lakewood School District is segregating its special education students" by taking race into account in determining placements.

In response to the ACLU-NJ complaint, the DOE launched an investigation that included a review of statistics, interviews with Lakewood special education employees, visits to Lakewood schools and the School for Children with Hidden Intelligence, and a review of student records.

The DOE investigation resulted in a 31-Page Report (2.5mb PDF), issued May 24, 2006, confirming the ACLU-NJ's allegations.

In a letter accompanying the 31-Page Report (2.5mb PDF), the DOE said it found that for the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 school years "the Lakewood School District failed to consistently make decisions based upon the individual needs of preschool students with disabilities. Rather, program and placement decisions can be directly correlated with a student's race. Therefore, the Lakewood School District is ordered to undertake correction action . . ."

The report also found that Lakewood discriminated not only in selecting in-district versus out-of-district placements, but also discriminated about whether students received full-time rather than part-time programs and whether students received regular school-year or extended school-year services.

The DOE has directed Lakewood to develop a proposed corrective action plan that must include a review of Lakewood School District's policies, education of staff and administrators, monitoring by the DOE's Office of Special Education programs, submission of monthly reports to the Bureau of Program Accountability, review of placements of all white preschool students and a review to determine whether compensatory services for individual black or Hispanic students is appropriate. The proposed plan must be submitted by July 31, 2006.