Student Advocacy Center of Michigan: Civil Rights Violations

Civil Rights Violations: What are they and what can I do about them when they occur?

ADVOCATE FOR STUDENTS:
Raise a Strong Voice for Children

Demand accurate information about the number of and reasons for expulsions.

Spread the word about the negative effects of expulsion to your friends, neighbors, and co-workers.

Write your legislators about your concerns with public education in Michigan. Speak out about due process rights and alternatives to expulsion.

SAMPLE LETTER & QUICKGUIDE

Sample Letters make communication with schools easier for parents by providing a starting point for the advocacy process.
QuickGuides offer general explanations for understanding and retrieving information, as well as guidance in how to handle specific school-related situations.

SUPPORT SAC

Support the Student Advocacy Center in our stuggle to protect the educational rights of students.

Unfair treatment based on race, gender, religion, or handicap

Civil rights violations are basically when the school treats a student unfairly because he or she is a member of a federally protected group of people. This group includes women, racial minorities, disabled, and those who are eligible for special education services. Civil rights violations occur all the time. When this happens, there are three main levels of accountability within the school system.

Difference between Intermediate School District Complaints and Office for Civil Rights Complaints

Basically, the Intermediate School District takes complaints about procedure problems, teachers and school officials who have acted illegally or inappropriately, and general grievances. The Office for Civil Rights is a federal office that investigates serious complaints such as civil rights violations, non-compliance with special education law and other federal legislation, and serious charges regarding inappropriate behavior by school personnel.

When making a formal complaint, often, the intermediate school district is a start. However, a Federal OCR complaint sometimes has more weight, enough weight to make a school think twice before continuing to terrorize a particular child.

Note: Offices do not like to take cases that other offices are already investigating. For example, OCR is very unlikely to look at a case that the American Civil Liberties Union is already investigating. Take this into consideration before acting. Talk with people at the individual offices to get a feel for things before signing on.

Starting with the highest office first, the offices that take complaints from families are:

Federal Office for Civil Rights, US Department of Education This office oversees all of the affairs in the country. Don't be surprised if they don't take your case, they seldom do. However, writing a letter to them is a good strategy for letting the school know you mean business (see Sample OCR Complaint).

Basically, even though we seldom have our cases taken by the Office for Civil Rights, we help families make many formal complaints to them. The main problem is that the laws and policies which schools are forced to follow are so complicated, and so numerous, it is very difficult for anyone (including lawyers themselves) to make heads or tails of them, or to know when a school is in the wrong.

If you have already filed an OCR Complaint, and haven't heard back from them in 30 days, see Sample Follow-Up Letter to the OCR.

Michigan Department of Education, State Office for Civil Rights This is a state office that is independent from any federal offices. We rarely use them as a complaint office, but they are certainly an option.
State Special Education Office Appeals of Intermediate School District complaint decision go to this office (see Sample Follow-Up Letter to ISD Complaint).
Intermediate School District (ISD) Each district is required to have their own policies regarding many of these civil rights matters. They must also make them widely available to the parents and students in a handbook, or by other means (see Sample ISD Complaint).

Civil Rights Strategies

If you are thinking about filing either an ISD or OCR Complaint, see QuickGuide to Filing Complaints.

If your child is currently, or within 120 days has been, the victim of a civil rights violation, and you would like to file a complaint, see Sample Office for Civil Rights (OCR) Letter.