Jefferson Parish Special Education

In August 2005, the Southern Poverty Law Center, along with attorneys from the Southern Disability Law Center and the Juvenile Justice Project of Louisiana, obtained a class-wide settlement agreement affecting all special education students with Emotional Disturbance in Jefferson Parish.

The agreement, benefiting as many as 1,000 children, requires major systemic changes including:

• improvements in the education provided to those with emotional disturbances,
• reform of the parish's overly harsh disciplinary procedures,
• counseling for emotionally disturbed children,
• and the provision of job training and other services to help high school students transition into jobs upon graduation.