In Education Week, Former Civil Rights Directors Call for Schools Where All Students Can Learn and Thrive

WASHINGTON – In an Education Week commentary, the former heads of the civil rights offices at the Departments of Justice and Education call for school discipline guidelines that ensure safe, high-quality schools where students, teachers, and staff are treated with dignity and respect.

The piece is co-authored by Vanita Gupta and Catherine E. Lhamon, the heads of the civil rights offices at the Departments of Justice and Education, respectively, during the previous administration. Gupta is currently the president and CEO of The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, and Lhamon chairs the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights and litigates on behalf of children and youth in poverty at the National Center for Youth Law.

The offices that Gupta and Lhamon led crafted the 2014 guidance documents to help schools serve students more effectively. Secretary DeVos and her blue-ribbon commission are now attacking the guidance that outlines how schools can satisfy the law while maintaining classroom peace.

In the commentary, Gupta and Lhamon write, “Every student deserves to attend a safe, high-quality school where students, teachers, and staff are treated with dignity and respect. Students also deserve to learn in an environment without fear of either over-policing or mass shootings.”

The full text of the commentary is available here.

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights is a coalition charged by its diverse membership of more than 200 national organizations to promote and protect the rights of all persons in the United States. The Leadership Conference works toward an America as good as its ideals. For more information on The Leadership Conference and its member organizations, visit www.civilrights.org.