In a lawsuit filed on November 18th, a seventeen year-old Irvington student is challenging his continuous exclusion from the District high school since September 2004. The suit, O.O. v. Irvington Board of Education, also alleges that the District violated the student's constitutional rights under the landmark Abbott v. Burke rulings by failing to provide the remedial programs mandated by those rulings and NJ Department of Education regulations.

Education Law Center (ELC), which is counsel to the Plaintiff students in the Abbott case, is also representing the student in this lawsuit. The suit has been filed with the Commissioner of Education, and will be heard by a State Administrative Law Judge.

In the Abbott IV (1997) and V (1998) rulings, the NJ Supreme Court ordered implementation of educational and educationally-related programs and services to ensure the right of urban students to a thorough and efficient education under the State Constitution. These programs are designed to "wipe out" the "extreme disadvantages" facing Abbott students by addressing their academic, social and health needs, as necessary to provide the opportunity to graduate from high school.

In the suit, the O.O. argues that Irvington’s continuous failure to provide him with programs and services that address his needs violates his education rights under the Abbott rulings and the NJDOE Abbott regulations. Had he been provided with these required programs and services, the suit alleges, he would have had a meaningful – and constitutionally required – opportunity to obtain a high school diploma.

The suit asks for an order directing the district to immediately readmit O.O. to Irvington high school, and to promptly develop and implement an educational plan based on an assessment of his academic, social and health needs. Further, the suit seeks the establishment of individualized goals and benchmarks to insure O.O. a meaningful opportunity to earn a high school diploma in a timely manner.

For more information, contact Koren Bell at kbell@edlawcenter.org.

Prepared: December 7, 2005

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