Dear Attorney General Holder:
I am following up on a March 18, 2015 letter that you should have received from Texas Senator Rodney Ellis urging the United States Department of Justice to use its authority to investigate truancy laws in Texas, where failure to attend school is considered a Class C Misdemeanor and prosecuted in adult criminal court with fines of up to $500.00 plus court costs. In such letter, Senator Ellis drew attention to a study by the non-profit advocacy group Texas Appleseed highlighting the disproportionate number of Truancy cases filed in Texas in relation African American, Hispanic, and Special Education students. In addition, Senator Ellis specifically drew attention to a public school system within his legislative district, Fort Bend ISD school district. I felt compelled that I share with you my vantage point as an attorney, parent, and community leader as it relates to working to improve Fort Bend ISD’s Truancy Program and some clarifications with respect to Senator Ellis’ concerns. While I share many of Senator Ellis’ concerns as outlined in his letter to you; I do not believe Fort Bend ISD designed its Truancy Program in a manner to discriminate against the African American, Hispanic, or Special Education students within Fort Bend ISD.
…What has astonished me in closely examining the Fort Bend ISD’s Truancy Program is at every turn it would appear Fort Bend ISD designed and/or implemented a Truancy Program completely tilted against all students not just African American, Hispanic, or Special Education students. We certainly must maintain high standards for our young people and that includes standards around students attending school but we must temper such against measures that are not too heavy-handed, rigid, and such that destroy an appropriate educational environment. Simply put, the Fort Bend ISD Truancy program targeted the deprivation of rights, privileges, and immunities secured or protected by the Constitution laws of the United States for all students, in particular, the due process rights all students hold under the Fourteenth Amendment, rights embodied under The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (20 U.S.C. 1232g), and even the rights even under Fort Bend ISD Board Policy.
Read the rest of Mr. Harrington’s letter, including his recommended action measures here
