Complaint: Wake County schools discriminating against Latinos

RALEIGH, N.C. — Two legal advocacy groups have filed a federal civil rights complaint against North Carolina's largest school system alleging discrimination against Latino students and their families.

The complaint filed against the Wake County Public School System by Legal Aid of North Carolina and the Southern Poverty Law Center asks the U.S. Department of Education to require the system to provide documents sent home about suspensions and special education services in Spanish for parents with limited proficiency in English.

The complaint names three Wake students – two ninth graders and a sixth grader – who were informed in English that they were being suspended for the remainder of the school year. Letters in English were sent home to their parents, who couldn't read them, the groups allege.

Legal Aid of North Carolina spokeswoman Peggy Nicholson said the practice violates federal law.

"If these parents don't get these important notices in a language that they can understand, they can't be advocates for their children," Nicholson said.

She said that once the letters were translated and students were able to get legal help, two out of the three suspensions were dropped.

"The delay between when the suspension took place and when the hearing was finally held was much longer than it probably would have been if the mother had been able to understand right off the bat what she needed to do," Nicholson said.

A Wake County schools spokeswoman said the district is taking the complaint seriously and is committed to providing support for parents with limited English proficiency.

"WCPSS staff, from the central office to the school level, are actively reviewing our practices to ensure we are meeting families' needs at every opportunity," spokeswoman Samiha Khanna said in a statement.

She added that the district was disappointed by the complaint, but eager to work with the Office of Civil Rights to resolve it.

Latinos account for about 15 percent of the district's student population, with about half of those children having limited proficiency in English.

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Latest Comments

If they don't like that the usa speaks English I will gladly throw them back over the border where they belong.You don't see the Chinese and Japanese Germans etc crying about things like this,its because they learn the language and don't expect things to go there way.

ThomasL
June 14, 2012 11:41 a.m.

well tell them to move back to where they came here from (poor things).. This is AMERICA and we speak English...deal with it or please feel free to LEAVE

pebbles262004
June 14, 2012 11:40 a.m.

It never ceases to amaze me that the land of opportunity has turned into the land of "I come illegaly into your country and demand all the rights that every citizen of this country has." No wonder they call it the land of opportunity. I guess we need to find linguist with every language spoken in the world for every public service offered in our country to OUR CITIZENS. So tired of people suing on equality when they are NOT equal..(being illegal does not make you equal to citizenship) No wonder our schools continually decline as we have to provide funds for equality of people who need special attention" Will it ever end? IMO it seems we may as well do away with our borders and dept of immigration and say coem on over and let's all starve and decline together.

ladyblue
June 14, 2012 10:57 a.m.

When my parents moved to this country they learned English so they could be productive and interact with other people in our society. They became citizens. We are AMERICANS - not Jewish-American, not African-American, not Italian-American - just good old AMERCANS.

If you want to live in AMERICA and enjoy the benefits of this great country then be an AMERICAN - learn the language and be productive. I don't want to see English and Spanish on the cereal box I live in AMERICA.

SnowyRdu
June 14, 2012 10:56 a.m.

This is what amazes me in the world anymore... and just shows how things are going downhill.

I would *NEVER*, ever, Ever, EVER move to Mexico or ANY foreign country and enroll in any school, or other entity, and expect them to provide everything in my native language [english].