Court Issues Preliminary Injunction Ordering DC to End IDEA Violations at the DC Jail Within 15 Days

On June 16, 2021, Judge Carl J. Nichols of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia entered a preliminary injunction in Charles H. v. District of Columbia, ordering the District of Columbia within 15 days to provide special education to the more than 40 students who are incarcerated at the DC Jail complex. The District must comply by July 1, 2021.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, students at the DC Jail complex only received occasional work packets in lieu of classes taught by qualified teachers either in-person or virtually. In April 2021, two students represented by TPM and co-counsel at the Washington Lawyers’ Committee and School Justice Project, filed a lawsuit on behalf of themselves and a class of all other students at the Inspiring Youth Program challenging the District’s failure to provide them with education and other services that they are entitled to receive under federal law and asking the court to issue a preliminary injunction to ensure that students have access to their education.

Judge Nichols found that “Plaintiffs are likely to demonstrate that Defendants did not implement student IEPs to the greatest extent possible throughout the pandemic” because the District failed to properly plan and implement a sufficient remote educational program at the Inspiring Youth Program, and the limited education they did provide did not offer students educational benefit and because the students would suffer irreparable harm, an injunction was warranted.

The court order requires that the District provide all students at IYP “with the full hours of special education and related services mandated by their IEP through direct, teacher-or-counselor-led group classes and/or one-on-one sessions, delivered via live videoconference calls and/or in-person interactions” within 15 days. See the Order here and Opinion here.

Zenia Sanchez Fuentes of Terris Pravlik & Millan LLP, says: “We are thrilled for our brave clients who had the courage and commitment to bring this case to federal court to pursue their education. The Court has told the District of Columbia loudly and clearly that its failure to teach these students during the pandemic must cease within 15 days. We look forward to continuing to vindicate our clients’ federal rights.” 

The Washington Post, writing about the Court’s order (see here), explained: “The judge issued the injunction before the full lawsuit has made its way through court, a sign the [students] made a strong case that they haven’t received an adequate education and need an immediate solution...” The DCist, the digital publication of WAMU 88.5 American University Radio, also wrote about the Court’s order (see here).