NEWARK, N.J. – The Seton Hall University School of Law Center for Social Justice this week filed a class action lawsuit in federal court on behalf of all parents of children attending Newark Public Schools who are being denied their rights under the No Child Left Behind Act. The Act specifically grants parents of children in failing schools the right to free tutoring and the right to transfer out of a failing school. Although over 30,000 children attend failing schools in Newark, Newark Public Schools deny thousands of these children their rights under the statute, producing incalculable damage to their education and their futures, the lawsuit notes.

The No Child Left Behind Act requires school districts to notify parents if their children are attending failing schools, and to inform them of the substantive rights that arise from that status – the right to transfer their child to a non-failing school and the right to receive free after-school tutorial services from a provider of the parent’s choice. School districts must also notify parents of their right to request information about the qualifications of their children’s teachers. As found by a recent audit of the United States Department of Education, the Newark Public Schools district has systematically failed to meet even the Act’s minimum notification requirements, causing thousands of Newark parents to be completely unaware of their rights under the Act.

“No Child Left Behind provides school children vital substantive rights affecting their education – including the right to receive free tutoring and the right to transfer out of a failing school,” said Seton Hall Law School Center for Social Justice Professor Shavar Jeffries, who is lead counsel for the parents. “These rights are meaningless if parents never hear of them.”

Alberta Green, one of the named plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed on Tuesday, November 28, is the grandmother and legal guardian of a student at Vailsburg Middle School, which has been identified as a failing school for the last three years. The Newark Public Schools district did not notify Green that her grandchild’s school was a failing school, nor did the district give her the option to transfer her grandchild to a non-failing school or to receive tutoring for her grandchild from a provider of her choice. Green learned only by word of mouth and her own investigation that her grandchild was attending a failing school and had the right to obtain tutoring. Green represents a class of thousands of parents who have likewise been denied their rights under the No Child Left Behind Act.

The lawsuit seeks an injunction that would force Newark Public Schools to comply with its obligations under the Act so that parents and students can exercise the rights wrongfully withheld from them.

In addition to Professor Jeffries, attorneys on the case include Scott Michelman, and third-year law students Holly R. Blanchard and William Tellado, also of the Seton Hall Law School Center for Social Justice.

A copy of the complaint can be found on Seton Hall Law School’s webpage: http://law.shu.edu



The only private law school in New Jersey, Seton Hall University School of Law was founded in 1951, and is located in the city of Newark. Seton Hall Law School offers both day and evening programs leading to the Juris Doctor (J.D.), Master of Laws (LL.M.) and Master of Science in Jurisprudence (M.S.J.) degrees. For more information on Seton Hall Law School, visit law.shu.edu.