Education Law

Space is at a premium in many public schools across the country.  Students are being educated in spaces that were not meant to be classrooms.  Some are in temporary trailers, others are in rooms originally meant for storage and some are in the basement.  There’s not much that can be done short of building new schools to accommodate more students.

However, it is important that school districts pay attention to what classes or activities they place in these alternate spaces.  Federal civil rights laws such as Title VI require that students in specific groups  have comparable facilities to other students in the district.  So, it would not be acceptable for a district to place of its elementary special education in the basement.  However, it could place an elementary self contained special education classroom in the basement along side other regular education elementary classrooms.

So, if your child is placed in one of these alternative spaces pay attention to who else is using similar spaces.  If regular education students are also using similar space then the district has likely met its legal burden.  However, if all special education classrooms or English language learners or other protected class are segregated into these alternate spaces then you should speak to your building principal and make sure that the students are fully integrated into the life of the school as soon as possible.

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