Judge Rules on School Closings Lawsuit

By Liane Scott, on May 16th, 2013

Last week, Empower DC and a number of DC Public School parents went to court to plead for an injunction to keep 15 more schools from being closed under Mayor Vince Gray and Schools Chancellor Kaya Henderson’s consolidation plan.

According to Johnny Barnes, the lead attorney in the case, the case includes four complaints:

1) The school consolidation plan violates the law that requires equal protection to all District Citizens. “Hobson v Hansen made clear that the equal protection clause applies to DC through the 5th amendment: If you offer education to one student you have to offer to all.”

2) The school consolidation plan violates Title VI, which states that you can’t treat different classes of individuals disparately.

3) The school consolidation plan violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act both of which contend that when dealing with special education students, you have to design individually, not with a blanket plan to close a school.

4) The school consolidation plan is in violation of the District of Columbia’s Human Rights Act.

In a 31-page opinion, which analyzed each of plaintiffs’ claims, US District court Judge James E. Boasberg ruled against Empower DC, stating: “In this case, there is no evidence whatsoever of any intent to discriminate on the part of Defendants, who are actually transferring children out of weaker, more segregated, and under-enrolled schools.”

But according to Barnes, “The case is not over. The battle is just beginning…The ruling was on the injunction, not on the merits on the case. The govt has not even filed a response.” Barnes’ case centers around “protected classes” of race, residence, disability, he said, noting that 100 schools have been closed in DC since 1976, but not one in Ward 3, home to the city’s wealthiest residents.

Attorney Barnes and Jonetta Rose Barras discuss the judge’s ruling during the May 16, 2013 episode of We Act Radio’s Education Town Hall, which airs every Thursday at 11:00 AM. The full interview can be found at the link is posted below:

Jonetta Rose Barras and Johnny Barnes, Esq. on The Education Town Hall w/Thomas Byrd May 16 2013 by Education_Town_Hall on Mixcloud

Attorney Johnny Barnes and Empower DC plan to appeal the case. The courts ruling should be judged against the mounting evidence that DC’s School Consolidation and Reorganization Plan have not saved the District of Columbia money or improved school outcomes.

Comments are closed   DC School Closures, Education   , , , , , , , ,  

Ivy City Bus Lot Plans Halted By Judge

By Guest Contributor, on December 11th, 2012

Cross-posted from the Washington Post Written by Mike DeBonis

Attorney Johny Barnes with Ivy City residents outside of Crummell School.

 

The activists fighting to keep a tour bus parking lot out of Ivy City won a significant victory Monday when a judge ordered the city to hold off on its plans.

Superior Court Judge Judith Macaluso found that city officials broke the law by not seeking input from the area’s advisory neighborhood commission and by circumventing a mandated environmental assessment.

While the city can finish construction on the lot, next to the Crummell School at Kendall and Gallaudet streets NE, it cannot use the area to stage buses until it seeks approval from the local ANC and seeks a more comprehensive environmental review. That process could take several months.

During court hearings, a former city official said plans were presented to the Ivy City Civic Association rather than the ANC because the ICCA had been ”more vocal” about the project, which involves repaving the lot and erecting a new fence and landscaping.

“To reason that the ANC need not be consulted because it was less vocal and therefore less interested than the ICCA is simply not permitted under District law,” Macaluso wrote.

Jose Sousa, a spokesman for the District’s economic development office, said officials are “examining the decision and evaluating for immediate appeal.”

The city pressed the Crummell School parking plan after the creation of an intercity bus terminal at Union Station in September meant evicting tour buses from parking spaces there. In court, the former city official said a proposal to park the tour buses at the old Greyhound terminal just north of Union Station was eliminated because ANC members there “didn’t want buses there period.”

Johnny Barnes, a civil rights attorney who represented neighborhood residents, called the ruling “a resounding victory, not just for Ivy City but the entire city.”

“The court recognized the role of ANCs in the city,” he said. “The District has not been respectful of that role. This could mean a turning point in the role that ANCs play and were intended to play.”

Barnes acknowledged “some concern” that the city will cross the T’s identified in Macaluso’s ruling, then move ahead with the bus lot plans. “But I have more hope than concern,” he said. “My hope is that the mayor and those in positions of power will recognize that you can’t run roughshod over the right of participation at the grass-roots level.”

3 comments - (Comments are closed)   Ivy City, Public Property   , , , ,  

Local TV Coverage of the Ivy City Bus Depot Lawsuit

By Liane Scott, on November 28th, 2012

The following is the latest television news coverage from the District’s local networks regarding the Bennett Vaughn vs Union Station Redevelopment Corporation lawsuit.

One of the District’s poorest neighborhoods is fighting City Hall’s proposal to the ground around historic Crummell School into a tour bus parking lot.

Judge Judith Macaluso came to see Ivy City with her own eyes. It’s one of the District’s poorest neighborhoods fighting City Hall’s turning the ground around historic Crummell School into a tour bus parking lot.

“They always did what they wanted to do to Ivy City and I hope they put a stop to it,” says Brenda Ingram-Best. The city already parks hundreds of school buses here, plus other city vehicles. Residents complain they’ll now have fumes from tour buses. “I have siblings who have respiratory problems,” says Stephen Scarborough. “I’m totally against the idea.” “My daughter is asthmatic. Literally yesterday she had dark circles under her eyes,” says Peta Gay Lewis.

Judge Macaluso would not answer questions. “It’s not a press conference,” she says. “This is just a viewing so I can understand the content in the courtroom.”

Activists have taken up the cause. “They went ahead and started construction,” says Parisa Norouzi. What if the city loses in court? “Let’s see what happens,” says Mayor Gray. “It’s pending at this stage. I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to comment on it until this has been settled.”

Judge Macaluso will hear the case again in her courtroom Thursday.

 

A DC Superior Court judge left the bench to take a tour of Ivy City as residents near the historic Crummell School are fighting the bus depot lot being built.

A D.C. Superior Court judge visited the northeast D.C. neighborhood where residents are fighting the building of a bus depot near the an historic school.

The Alexander Crummell School near Okie and Kendall streets, built in 1911 and abandoned in 1980, is on the register of historic places, but its expansive yard off New York Avenue is being paved over for the District to use as a tour bus parking lot beginning in March.

Neighbors — some who went to the school — want a job center and community place for the mostly poor and struggling Ivy City neighborhood. They’ve gone to court to block the parking project.

“We were to get the building ready for the neighborhood,” said 82-year-old Remetter Freeman, who graduated from the school in 1941 and helped get it on the historic register. “We wanted to put in job training, lots of things. For the kids, a library.”

“There’s a lot of people around here that are sick and have respiratory problems,” former student Jeannette Carter said. “Then there’re the little kids. They don’t have nowhere to play but in the street. And when I was going to school, we used to have fun right there in the evenings and stuff, all kinds of programs and things we had to do.”

D.C. Superior Court Judge Judith Macaluso took a walking tour of the area to see what neighbors are complaining about. The suit in part alleges the city failed to follow city laws and the heavy bus exhaust is unsafe.

“The city government hasn’t done anything by way of surveys, assessing the problem in the community,” lawyer Johnny Barnes said. “People have lived here forever, and they’ve just been dumping on them because they’re low income and they haven’t voted in the past.”

Neighbors and activists say there’s already too much industrial use in a neighborhood where about 1,200 people struggle to live every day.

 

DC Judge Oversees Temporary Bus Depot Lawsuit Visits Ivy City

WASHINGTON -A D.C. Superior Court judge left her courtroom on Monday to get a good look at an issue that has many D.C. residents upset.

Judge Judith Macaluso toured the Ivy City section of Northeast D.C. It involves a case concerning a temporary bus depot that is being built in Ivy City. Members of the community have filed a lawsuit asking Judge Macaluso put a stop to it.

Residents believe the pollution created by the buses parked in the bus lot will cause health problems for those living nearby.

The temporary lot will store as many as 65 buses, which are typically used to travel the New York-D.C. route. The lot will be used until bus storage is created once Union Station undergoes a multi-billion dollar renovation.

When the temporary lot is . . . → Read More: Local TV Coverage of the Ivy City Bus Depot Lawsuit

Comments are closed   Ivy City, Public Property   , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,