Rushe Middle School PASCO COUNTY, Fla. - The Justice Department (DOJ) announced Tuesday a settlement agreement with the Pasco County School Distri
PASCO COUNTY, Fla. – The Justice Department (DOJ) announced Tuesday a settlement agreement with the Pasco County School District to resolve the department’s investigation into alleged discrimination against students with disabilities in school discipline, threat assessment practices, and student referrals to law enforcement.
The department conducted its investigation under Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
According to the DOJ, an investigation discovered that the district routinely suspended students or called police for disability-related behavior that could have been addressed with appropriate support and de-escalation.
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The investigation also discovered issues with the district’s threat assessments (a process for identifying, evaluating, and responding to potential school security concerns).
When these assessments included students with disabilities, the district consistently failed to consider the relationship between a student’s disability and their behavior, as well as whether appropriate support for the student would address the behavior that triggered the assessment.
Instead, the district frequently referred students to law enforcement to be arrested or to initiate the process of involuntary admission to a mental health facility under Florida’s Baker Act.
The agreement requires the “district to end discriminatory practices that resulted in students losing hours of classroom time, being treated unfairly during the threat assessment process, and even facing the prospect of being arrested or sent to a mental health facility against their wishes.”
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The department will monitor the district’s implementation of the agreement while also monitoring and enforcing an ongoing desegregation order that applies to the district, according to the DOJ.
“As we mark the 70th anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education, we remain committed to disrupting the school to prison pipeline and ensuring that the doors of academic opportunity are open to all,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division. “Too often schools rely on suspensions and law enforcement to address disability-related behaviors of students, without considering what they can do to help those students stay in and succeed at school. Equal participation in schools for students with disabilities means providing those students with the services and interventions they need to succeed. This agreement is part of our ongoing efforts across the country to combat practices that push students out of the classroom.”
“Each and every child deserves an equal opportunity to learn and thrive,” said U.S. Attorney Roger Handberg for the Middle District of Florida. “Our office, in partnership with the department’s Civil Rights Division, will vigorously investigate and enforce the protections of the ADA to end discrimination on the basis of disability in all settings, including in our public schools. I am heartened by the district’s commitment to this significant agreement, which will undoubtedly improve the education and everyday lives of students with disabilities in our community.”
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The district cooperated with the department throughout the investigation and has committed to improving its services for students with disabilities. Among other actions, under the agreement, the district will:
- Ensure that district personnel accurately assess disability-related behaviors, identify appropriate interventions for those behaviors and monitor the implementation of those interventions;
- Hire a consultant with expertise in behavior interventions who will assist in updating its policies and practices;
- Update its student code of conduct, threat assessment process and process for calling law enforcement to ensure that the district is adequately considering disability-related behaviors and modifying its policies and procedures to avoid discrimination based on disability;
- Develop appropriate trainings to help schools implement the agreement and respond appropriately to student behavior and
- Improve data collection and analysis systems and regularly evaluate data to ensure students with disabilities are not excluded from school for disability-related behaviors through the district’s discipline, threat assessment and law enforcement referral practices.
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