By Nelson A. King
WASHINGTON, Nov 18, CMC – The United States Department of Justice (DOJ) says it has reached a settlement agreement with the Providence, Rhode Island, Public School District to resolve an investigation into the district’s programmes and services for new Caribbean and other immigrant English learner students with limited or interrupted education, known in the district as “newcomers.”
Rhode Island is home to a large immigrant population, with about 14.6 per cent are foreign-born. Figure shows that 7.9 percent of U.S.-born residents have at least one immigrant parent.
The DOJ said the Providence Public School District is the largest school district in Rhode Island, serving thousands of English learner students, including hundreds of newcomers.
“New immigrant students and families bring great promise and a wealth of strengths to school communities, but they too often face great adversity in accessing educational opportunities,” said Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.
“Schools far too frequently shut their doors to newcomers or divert them into segregated programs with few opportunities and inadequate services.
“Federal law is clear: all students, including immigrant students, have a right to meaningfully participate in their district’s educational programs, and the Justice Department is committed to enforcing that right in Rhode Island and across the country,” Clarke added.
US Attorney Zachary A. Cunha for the District of Rhode Island said the Providence Public School District’s failure to meet its civil rights obligations to newcomer students is unacceptable, particularly coming as it does in the wake of an earlier, 2018 civil rights agreement that addressed the school district’s failure to accommodate English language learners.
“Providence’s woeful history of half measures and consistent failures to meet the critical needs of its most vulnerable students have necessitated today’s action: a more closely targeted and stringent agreement focused on the newcomer program,” he added.
The DOJ said the agreement resolves the department’s investigation into complaints about civil rights violations at the district’s “Newcomer Academy,” a programme intended to provide accelerated learning to newcomers aged 17 and older.
The DOJ said its Civil Rights Division and the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Rhode Island found that the district had failed to provide adequate English language instruction to over 200 students at the Newcomer Academy.
Dozens of students at the Newcomer Academy signed a petition during the 2023-24 school year stating that they wanted to learn English at their school, the DOJ said.
It also found that the district failed to staff the programme with qualified, trained teachers and administrators, and unnecessarily segregated newcomers, depriving them of equal opportunities to receive special education and participate in programs such as career and technical education.
The DOJ said the district cooperated with it during the investigation and has started to take steps to address some of the concerns identified by the department.
Under the agreement, the DOJ said the district will ensure that all students in newcomer programs receive adequate instruction in the English language, and that teachers in newcomer programmes are appropriately trained and qualified.
In addition, the DOJ said the district will provide language translation and interpretation of important school information to parents of newcomers who are not fluent in English.
The district will also ensure that newcomers have equal access to specialized programs and are appropriately integrated with other English learners and native English speakers, the DOJ said, adding that it conducted its investigation under the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974 and the department’s 2018 agreement with the district addressing all of the district’s English learner services and programmes.
CMc/nk/2024