Parents and Students Challenge Cancellation of Summer School by Bakersfield City School District
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 30, 2019
Media Contacts:
Cynthia L. Rice,
Director of Litigation & Training
California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.
Tel. (510) 267-0762 x323, crice@crla.org
Deborah Escobedo
Senior Attorney,
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights
San Francisco Bay Area
Tel. (415) 543-9444 x201, descobedo@lccr.com
Lyndsi Andreas
Staff Attorney,
Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance, Inc
Tel. (661) 321-3991, landreas@gbla.org
BAKERSFIELD, CA – Yesterday, California Rural Legal Assistance Inc., Greater
Bakersfield Legal Assistance and the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights,
representing Bakersfield students and parents, filed a lawsuit against the
Bakersfield City School District (BCSD) to force the district to reinstate its
summer school programs at all school sites for Summer 2019.
Until recently, BCSD planned to hold summer programs at all campuses starting
in just a few weeks. However, the district abruptly cancelled summer school,
putting BCSD students at risk of falling behind academically. BCSD’s summer
school cancellation violated the law because the district made its decision
without seeking input from the parent advisory committee or any other
stakeholder groups. The Local Control and Accountability Plan (LCAP)—the state-mandated
school budgeting and planning process—prohibits the district from making such
decisions without public input and accountability.
“This move by the District will adversely impact many of our client families,
especially low-income and English Learner students, who need these programs to
stay on track academically,” said
Lyndsi Andreas, staff attorney with Greater Bakersfield Legal Assistance.
“The District should immediately reinstate all of the cancelled summer schools
and provide a public accounting for why they circumvented the legal process.”
Before the district’s about-face, the 2017-20 LCAP provided for a program every
summer with the goal of accelerating academic achievement for the district’s
at-risk students. The LCAP allocated $1,655,634 for STEAM-focused summer school
programs that teach science, technology, engineering, arts, and math for
2018-19. The BCSD School Board slashed the budget and plans to use only $50,572
of the $1.6 million. They will use money from a separate grant, designed to
supplement the other LCAP funding, for summer school at only four sites and by
invitation only. The vast majority of BCSD students will be excluded from the
program.
“Originally, the District spoke of deficits from other programs and indicated
this money would go into reserves,” said
Cynthia L. Rice, Director of Litigation Advocacy & Training for California
Rural Legal Assistance. “Now they are saying it will be spent
on Academic Academies next year, but parents have been given no information
about those academies or why $1.6 million dollars in summer school money should
fund them. Parents and students deserve more.”
In a further violation of public accountability, the District, Board, and
Superintendent did not include any information about how the remaining $1.6
million dollars will be used when revising its 2018-19 LCAP. This money is
supposed to be spent this school year to address underachievement of
economically disadvantaged, foster youth, and English Learner students who are
more likely to experience education achievement gaps. This suggests an
indifference not only to the concerns of parents and community organizations,
but also to the district’s obligations under the law.
“The LCAP process was intended to be an inclusive one,” said Deborah Escobedo, an attorney
with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights. “All
stakeholders, including parents and teachers, should be meaningfully involved
in such a decision. Through its unilateral actions, the District has made a
mockery of the LCAP and has raised serious concerns about how they actually
spent the money.”
The parents and students demand summer school be reinstated at all sites. The
California Department of Education explicitly states, “Research spanning 100
years shows that children experience learning loss when they do not engage in
educational activities during the summer (White, 1906; Entwisle &
Alexander, 1992; Cooper et al., 1996, Downey et al., 2004)…Summer learning loss
is cumulative. Over time, the difference between the summer learning rates of
low-income and higher-income students contributes substantially to the
achievement gap (Sloan, McCombs, Schwartz, Bodilly, McCinnis, Lichter, Cross,
2011) Research has shown low-income children to be nearly three grade
equivalents behind their more affluent peers in reading by the end of the fifth
grade as a result of summer learning loss (National Summer Learning Association
[NSLA], 2009).”1
1 https://www.cde.ca.gov/eo/in/summerlearning.asp
California Rural Legal
Assistance, Inc. (CRLA)
Founded in 1966, CRLA’s
mission is to fight for justice and individual rights alongside the most
exploited communities of our society. Through a network of regional offices and
cross-cutting programs, CRLA provides legal services to nearly 50,000,000
low-income people annually. Our work impacts farmworkers, individuals with
disabilities, immigrant populations, LGBT communities, women, children and families
in rural areas.
For more information on CRLA, please visit: crla.org
LAWYERS’ COMMITTEE FOR
CIVIL RIGHTS
The Lawyers’ Committee for
Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, founded in 1968, works to advance,
protect and promote the legal rights of communities of color, low-income
persons, immigrants, and refugees. Assisted by hundreds of pro bono attorneys,
LCCR provides free legal assistance and representation to individuals on civil
legal matters through direct services, impact litigation and policy advocacy.
For more information on LCCR, please visit: lccr.com
GREATER BAKERSFIELD
LEGAL ASSISTANCE, INC
Founded in 1968, GBLA’s
mission is to promote social change and justice by providing high-quality legal
services to the low-income community of Kern County, California. GBLA assists
clients in the areas of housing and homelessness, domestic violence, guardianship,
children and family services, health law, consumer law, and others.
For more information on GBLA, please visit: gbla.org