Mass. vocational schools policy violates student civil rights, complaint says (The Boston Globe)
In a Feb. 2 article, The Boston Globe reported on a complaint filed in federal court against the state of Massachusetts about the admissions practices of vocational schools. The Center for Law and Education, along with Lawyers for Civil Rights, filed the complaint. An excerpt of the article is below.
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Massachusetts vocational schools and technical programs are systematically denying admission to students of color, those from low-income families, and other at-risk populations, closing off career pathways to some of the very people they were designed to help, two legal aid organizations said in a lawsuit filed against the state Thursday.
The complaint, filed in federal court in Boston by Lawyers for Civil Rights and the Center of Law and Education, argues the state’s use of “exclusionary criteria,” which includes using grades, attendance, and disciplinary records to determine admission, is discriminatory. The result, they argued, is that students, of color, from low-income homes, those with disabilities, and those still learning English are admitted to career vocational schools and programs at disproportionately lower rates than their peers.
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