St. Tammany Parish School Board denies student equal access to free appropriate public education
NEW ORLEANS — The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) and Loyola University of New Orleans’ Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic filed an appeal in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana challenging the St. Tammany Parish School Board’s use of shortened school days for students with disabilities.
The appeal seeks the reversal of a Louisiana administrative law judge’s decision and calls on the federal court to end a practice that advocates say unlawfully excludes children with disabilities from full access to public education.
The case arose from the school district’s decision to place a young student with autism on an amended school day that limited him to two hours of in-school instruction per day. For the remainder of the school day, school officials sent the child home without education services, supports or interaction with peers. His family contends that the shortened day was not a temporary or therapeutic measure, but an unlawful exclusion that denied him a free and appropriate public education guaranteed under federal law.
“What happened to this 9-year-old student was a clear violation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act,” said Lauren A. Winkler, senior staff attorney, SPLC. “Punishing this child for his behavior rather than offering alternatives other than two hours a day of school and no recreational outlet does not meet the state or federal education legal requirements.”
With the recent attacks to the U.S. Department of Education by the Trump administration through cutting staff and resources, the federal Office for Civil Rights is investigating less cases such as this one – further harming students with disabilities. The responsibility to ensure school districts are complying with federal law and holding schools accountable now falls to organizations like the SPLC and Loyola Law Clinic through the use of litigation.
The complaint alleges that the school board’s policies and practices violated the nine-year-old’s civil rights by refusing him full-day access to education as required by law. For the few hours he spent at school, the child was isolated in a classroom by himself, denied instruction in certain subjects and not allowed to attend lunch or recess, which offers important opportunities for physical, social and emotional growth.
“This case is about a fundamental civil rights issue,” said Sara Godchaux, Disability Justice Clinic professor, Loyola Law Clinic. “A shortened day is not support. It is an exclusion. When a public school responds to a child’s disability by sending him home instead of providing appropriate services, it is denying that child equal access to education. That is not only harmful, but also unlawful.”
The Loyola Law Clinic initially brought this case in March 2025 through the administrative process, challenging the school district’s decision to place the child on a two-hour school day and segregate him from his peers for the remainder of the day. After the administrative law judge ruled against the child’s family, the Loyola Law Clinic and the SPLC filed an appeal with the federal court to ensure meaningful judicial review of the school district’s actions and also sued the school district for disability discrimination.
A link to the complaint can be found here.
###
About the Southern Poverty Law Center
The Southern Poverty Law Center is a catalyst for racial justice in the South and beyond, working in partnership with communities to dismantle white supremacy, strengthen intersectional movements and advance the human rights of all people. For more information, visit splcenter.org.
About the Loyola Law Clinic
Loyola University of New Orleans’ Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic provides free legal services for low-income individuals. Third-year law student practitioners in the Disability Justice section of the clinic protect and advance the civil rights of low-income children and adults with disabilities in Louisiana, with a particular emphasis on the intersection of disability, race and poverty.