Columbia Public Schools Superintendent Brian Yearwood has notified dozens of parents and guardians that "confidential and personally identifiable information" about their children will be released as a result of a court order in a lawsuit against the district.
The 2020 lawsuit is Shawan Daniels, individually, and as next friend on behalf of A.B. and Laquesha Jackson, individually, and as next friend on behalf of H.J. versus Columbia Public Schools. It challenges the district's practice at the time of using isolation, seclusion and restraint to punish students in special education.
Under a contract with another company, some students were confined in plywood boxes, roughly four-by-six feet in area and eight feet high. The school district has since ended its contract with the company.
Angela Jolley, the teacher who made the confinement practices known, also has sued the school district.
"In this matter, the attorneys for Ms. Daniels and Ms. Jackson ("plaintiffs") have requested that CPS provide them with various private and confidential student records for individuals who are not parties in the above referenced litigation," the communication reads. "CPS takes seriously its obligation to maintain confidentiality of its students' records. Over CPS' objection, the court ordered CPS to provide to the plaintiffs and their attorneys records containing private, confidential and personally identifiable information about district students, including you and/or your student."
The notification advises parents if they want to object to the release of the records, they will need an attorney to file a motion in district court.
The notification may not be clear to the parents receiving it, Julianne Germinder, plaintiffs' attorney, said in a news release.
"We are concerned that the district sent out its notification without any context or explanation to parents why they are receiving it," Germinder said in the news release.
She wrote that those who received the notification either submitted a complaint of disability discrimination or retaliation to CPS at some point since the start of 2017, or the district used isolation, seclusion or restraint on their child in that period.
If parents have questions about what records the court has ordered CPS to produce or how the records will be used, Germinder urged them to contact her firm, TGH Litigation.
A circuit judge in the case overruled the district's objection to the release and the Court of Appeals rejected an emergency petition to block the circuit judge's order.
An attorney for CPS, in objecting to the court order, said it could require hundreds of notifications to parents and guardians.
The notification was sent to around 500 families, said Michelle Baumstark, CPS spokeswoman, in an email.
"CPS fought very hard to protect the privacy and confidentiality of all the records of the hundreds of students, parents, and families not included in this court case, Baumstark wrote. "The district intends to comply with the court’s order and produce the records."
In determining how widespread the district's practice was, plaintiffs' attorneys requested records showing the number of students subjected to isolation, seclusion or restraint and the circumstances since 2017. The records also are attempting to show the practices disproportionately were applied to students in special education.
