The Philadelphia School District and the Pennsylvania Department of Education are denying students with disabilities access to education at the Philadelphia Juvenile Justice Services Center in violation of federal law, a state administrative complaint filed this week alleges. ing.
The center in West Philadelphia houses young people who are awaiting trial or who have been sentenced and are waiting for a bed in a secure state facility. The school district operates a school within the center.
According to a complaint filed with the Pennsylvania Department of Education's Office of Special Education, all young people placed at the center are entitled to an education under the Education Act, but access to education was denied upon initial admission. In some cases, children are denied access to education for up to a month. center.
“Advocates and students reported that more than 20 students at a time slept on rubber mats for weeks in dirty, overcrowded rooms,” the complaint states. “While they are 'processed' in this unit, they do not receive any educational services.”
Once processed, the youth at the center have unstable access to instruction, according to the complaint. Although the facility has classrooms, students are sometimes removed from the classroom for disciplinary reasons, with entire groups of youth forced to stay in the unit with worksheets inserted under the door, according to the Education Law Center. Although students are sometimes given access to classrooms, they rarely have access to classrooms. Teachers. Therefore, they must try to learn the material on their own, the complaint states. Some people can't learn at all.
Federal and state laws require parents to have the ability to participate in the educational planning of students with disabilities, but the complaint says the centers often do not provide parents with the information they need to do so. .
“PJJSC students have a clear right to an education that cannot be denied solely because of their involvement in the juvenile justice system,” Education Law Center attorney Ashli Giles Perkins said in a statement. “In one case, a 17-year-old student with a severe disability received no education at all while attending PJJSC and was not enrolled in school.”
Monique Braxton, a spokeswoman for the district, said she does not comment on legal issues.
Giles Perkins said students of color are most often affected by issues at the Youth Justice Services Center because of systemic racism.
“Young people in Pennsylvania's juvenile justice system, whether in public or private facilities, simply cannot do that. The right to education is being taken away and that is exactly what is happening here and it must be rectified,” said Giles Perkins. “Decades of research and student advocacy have shown that this lack of education leads to dropouts, inadequate employment and housing, and increased involvement in the criminal justice system. PJJSC’s Young people need more support and services, not less.”
“Bigger system failure”
A large number of students (nearly half) placed in the center require special education services. But many people have not received them, according to the complaint.
Although the complaint specifically targets JJSC, it points to a “broader systemic failure.” This means identifying youth eligible for special education services and providing those services, as required by federal law that guarantees access to “free and appropriate educational services” for people with disabilities. The school district lacks a system. Appropriate public education. ”
The Education Law Center calls for policy changes as well as monitoring and oversight to ensure students receive the appropriate education required by law.
long-standing concerns
Advocates have been sounding the alarm for more than two years about both the conditions at the center and the amount of time young people spend waiting for long-term admission to state facilities (time that, unlike the adult system, does not count toward sentences). ing. .
This facility is not designed for long-term stays and is not licensed to provide treatment or treatment. Advocates say the atmosphere of violence there is fueled by disgruntled young people in crowded spaces with restricted programming.
In 2022, the city sued the state Department of Human Services for failing to promptly detain sentenced youths to serve their sentences. By the end of last year, there were 212 young people in the 184-licensed facility, some teenagers sleeping on the floors of overcrowded cells or in what appeared to be office areas. The city asked a judge to hold them in contempt of the state, but dropped that request when the population fell below the authorized maximum capacity.
The state's solution to curb crowding has also raised alarm among advocates. One of the plans was to send the young man to a facility in Texas. Another option outlined in Gov. Josh Shapiro's budget proposal this year would house youth in a modified wing of a maximum-security men's prison on the grounds of the Phoenix State Correctional Facility.
