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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Although I think the lawsuit is inappropriately brought by the plaintiff -- simply because there are people who could be better plaintiffs than this one -- anything that can shine light on how the selection process works for the all of the choice programs is helpful.

For example, my three kids all applied to the French Immersion program at Sligo Creek ES when eligible.  None of the three kids made it into the program.  None of the kids received a lottery number higher than 75 (two of them received numbers in the low to mid 100's).  We applied in person for all three on the first available day MCPS accepted applications.  Two of the three even reapplied for first grade admissions; we gave up on reapplying for the third.  Yes, I understand how non-preferential lotteries work.  Yes, I know that it is possible to go 0/3 or in our case 0/5 since two reapplied in the second year.  However, it is difficult to accept the outcome when none of the kids made it into the program.[/quote]

PP, are you a lawyer?  If so, you need to go back to law school for a refresher.

Please, people, it's not a "lawsuit".  Jawando is not a "plaintiff".  Therefore his suitability as a "plaintiff" is not at issue at all.  No judge or jury will decide this case and Jawando's standing, jurisdiction, damages suffered, etc. are not at issue.

Instead, he has filed a civil rights complaint with the Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights.  See their complaint process page here --http://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/howto.html

ANYONE can file a complaint, "Anyone who believes that an education institution that receives federal financial assistance has discriminated against someone on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, disability or age, or who believes that a public elementary or secondary school, or state or local education agency has violated the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act, may file a complaint. The [b]person or organization filing the complaint need not be a victim of the alleged discrimination[/b] but may complain on behalf of another person or group."

This is one of many "due process" options available to families who believe that either they have directly suffered discrimination OR they have witnessed discrimination OR believe a school process is discriminatory.  Due process options are -- file a lawsuit, file an OCR complaint, file a state complaint, file a complaint within MCPS, ask for mediation.  Depending on your claim, you might choose one avenue over another.

OCR investigates the complaint and, if the school system is found to have violated civil rights, usually some kind of remedy is established by OCR and imposed on the school system.  Sometimes this can be a one-time remedy.  Sometimes it is a systemic remedy (long-term oversight, retraining of personnel or changes in a process to try to get rid of the discrimination).

Also, the complaint is not about the "unfairness" of not winning a lottery.  Jawondo is not complaining about the lottery process.  He is complaining that the school system does not do enough to make poor and minority students aware of these special opportunities in time to consider applying.  The fact that he found out at the last minute, tends anecdotally to support his allegation.  Now it is up to OCR to look at the way MCPS promotes these opportunities and decide if they do so in a non-discriminatory way.  The fact that he managed to apply, was offered a partial immersion program and decided to go elsewhere has little bearing on the allegation that poor and minority students are treated in a way that makes them less likely to apply to these programs and thus the system is discriminating against them.  [/quote]

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