The Louisiana Department of Education is, of course, concerned with the well being of all students and recognizes our responsibility to ensure every child receives a free and appropriate education. While we have no way of verifying these specific incidents as of yet, it’s unacceptable that any child or family would have to endure the kind of hardships that were described by the Southern Poverty Law Center in this complaint. At the same time, we are disappointed that this organization did not make us aware of these reports and concerns until today, several hours after a press conference was held outlining this complaint. If we had been notified, we would have worked with this organization, these students and their families to resolve any deficiencies so that their physical, emotional and educational needs are met by their local districts and schools.
The Department receives several calls a day and hundreds of calls each year – from parents, students, teachers, administrators and others – who are concerned or frustrated and turn to us for support, direction and in some cases advocacy. These concerns are not indicative of charter schools or traditional schools and are not limited to specific school districts or areas of the state. In most cases, our staff works diligently with local school districts and schools to help resolve these types of complaints, and the issues never rise to the level of a formal complaint. However, in some cases (31 over the last year) we receive formal complaints, and we work to resolve these through intervention.
As the Southern Poverty Law Center pointed out, these are indeed our most vulnerable students. And we intend to see to it that they have access to the high-quality educational programs and services they deserve.
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