Kendrick Lamar on his ‘To Pimp A Butterfly’LP had some lines that caught my attention. He said, “I know if I’m generous at heart, I don’t need recognition. The way I’m rewarded, well, that’s God’s decision. I know you know that line’s for Compton School District.” He quite possibly could soon be writing about, his hometown school, the Compton Unified School District getting sued by parents and students.
The accusers are pointing fingers at the Compton Unified School claiming it failed to prioritize the students’ emotional and mental health and cite racial profiling while imparting basic education.
After he filed a complaint against an officer, one family alleged that school police targeted a student’s father for arrest and deliberately got him deported to Mexico. School officers allegedly beat, pepper sprayed and used a chokehold on a bystander who was taking video of an arrest on his iPod, and erased cellphone videos taken by students in another incident.
Also, a homeless high school student spent part of the past two months overnighting on the roof of the cafeteria at Dominguez High. This was another detail revealed in a class-action lawsuit filed Monday against the Compton Unified School District.
This incident and the experiences of four other students are cited as evidence of emotional and psychological trauma the suit asserts the district is obligated to address under federal law that guarantees equal educational opportunity for students with disabilities.
The lawsuit seeks $41.4 million in damages. Further, it was filed on behalf of three parents, one student and the witness who took the iPod video against the Compton Unified School District and its police department, school police Chief Hourie Taylor, the district superintendent and board of trustees, and multiple individual school police officers and security guards.
“That’s how bad the school is. You can’t even notice that a student is living at the school there,” the young homeless said in a statement video-recorded by the legal team, shadowing his face because he is a minor.Darin Brawley, a Compton unified offical, told LA Times that he has not seen the lawsuit yet and could not comment specifically on it. However, he added that the school district will review the allegations.
“We take very seriously all allegations regarding the quality of education of our students,” Brawley reportedly said, adding: “The district is committed to providing a quality education to all students and will continue to do so.”
SOURCE: NBC LOS ANGELES
