Advocates ask AG’s office to investigate ‘exclusionary’ Saugus admissions policy (MassLive)
Below is an excerpt from an article published by MassLive on August 28, drawing attention to a potentially discriminatory Saugus Public Schools’ admissions policy. Massachusetts Advocates for Children is one of the advocacy groups that asked Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell’s office to launch an investigation.
A pair of advocacy groups on Wednesday asked Attorney General Andrea J. Campbell’s office to launch an investigation into the Saugus Public Schools’ admissions policy, which they claim excludes migrant students.
The letter to Campbell’s office comes less than two weeks after the groups, Lawyers for Civil Rights and Massachusetts Advocates for Children, sent a letter to the town’s School Committee asking it to amend the policy, which the body adopted in 2022.
Those groups claim the committee’s policy “includes overly-stringent residency and proof-of-identity requirements, which have a disproportionate impact on immigrant and mixed-status families.”
A spokesperson said Campbell’s office was “in touch with the Saugus School District regarding their school admissions policy.”
“Federal and state law give all students equal access to a public education, regardless of immigration status,” the spokesperson said in an email.
The statement echoes that of the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, or DESE, following the initial letter, where it said it was reaching out to the district to clarify its policy.
Read more at MassLive.
