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EDUCATION

Judge: Immigrants' lawsuit vs. Collier schools over enrollment can continue

Brett Murphy
brett.murphy@naplesnews.com; 239-213-6042

A federal judge shot down the Collier County school district's attempt to toss out a lawsuit that alleges discrimination against hundreds of immigrant students.

Fort Myers Middle District Judge Sheri Polster Chappell said in her Friday ruling that 370-plus English language learner students can continue their lawsuit against the Collier County School Board and, to a lesser extent, district Superintendent Kamela Patton.

The Collier School Board unveiled a new logo at a news conference Jan. 28, 2015.

“This case attacks a frontline inquiry,” Chappell said, “whether (the students) were denied access to free public education available to other non-ELL children."

The school district and Patton violated federal and state laws by denying access to public education to recently arrived immigrant teenagers with limited English skills, according to the August complaint.

The Southern Poverty Law Center, an Alabama-based national civil rights advocacy group, filed the lawsuit on behalf of six immigrant children who said they were not allowed to enroll.

In a previous motion, the schools’ lawyers tried to show the claims were legally baseless.

However, Chappell said the students have shown their allegations have merit, while the school district's arguments "fell short," she said.

Friday’s ruling was a boon for the students, putting the gas pedal on a case that’s nearing the one-year mark.

"We hope it can move forward more rapidly," said Southern Poverty Law Center senior staff lawyer Michelle Lapointe.

"We think it was really important that (Chappell) rejected some of the defendants' arguments that they have unfettered power to set limits on admission to high school," Lapointe said in an interview.

Federal and state law mandate that schools offer children in their jurisdiction, regardless of immigration status, access to free public education. Neither side has specified whether the students in this case are undocumented, nor does that have any bearing on the case.

The school district has argued in past filings that students were not blocked but were redirected to comparable programs in the school system that would provide better educational opportunities than regular high school.

The students came to the United States from Haiti or Guatemala and attempted to enroll in Collier County high schools.

But Immokalee, Golden Gate and Lely high schools denied the teens and redirected them to programs at Immokalee and Lorenzo Walker technical colleges, according to court records.

“The Collier County school district is shirking its responsibility to educate these students,” said Southern Poverty Law Center managing lawyer Tania Galloni.

“Let’s be clear: An adult English language class is no substitute for a high school education," Galloni said in a news release.

Chappell dismissed Patton from several of the alleged violations on procedural grounds.

But the case against the School Board will continue in full, bringing each side one step closer to sharing evidence that will spell out whether school officials denied the students a fair education.

School district representatives weren’t discouraged by the Friday ruling. Jim Fox, a lawyer for the schools, said early stages of a civil case are designed mostly to weed out any legal roadblocks that might get in the way during substantive fact-finding later.

“Now they're going to have to prove” the allegations, Fox said. “It’s lot harder to prove things than to allege them.”

The school district has said in court filings that it has the right to redirect students if they won’t graduate on time due to prohibitive language barriers. It's the schools' prerogative, lawyers argued, to implement their ELL programs however they see fit.

However, Chappell noted in her order, “that power is not limitless.”

In September, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a request for the court to deny the school district's motion for dismissal.

“This litigation implicates a matter of critical national importance — the right of English learner students to equal access to a high-quality education,” according to the filing submitted by U.S. Attorney A. Lee Bentley III, of the U.S. District Court in Fort Myers, and other Justice Department lawyers.

The next hearing in the case is scheduled for April 18.

Related stories: 

More immigrants say Collier schools blocked enrollment

Lawsuit: Collier schools illegally deny immigrant students access to education

CCPS: Immigrant students not denied education, turned away because they didn't meet requirements

Advocates: Collier schools denying more immigrant students access to high school