The Christian Science Monitor – Stacy Teicher Khadaroo
“A group of students and teachers filed a first-of-its-kind class-action lawsuit on Monday to try to compel California’s Compton Unified School District to take into account the needs of students affected by trauma. Researchers have found that childhood trauma – such as abuse or witnessing violence – can interfere with development and interrupt children’s ability to focus on learning. But if students get appropriate help, the negative effects often can be overcome. At a time when many school districts across America are attempting to take the emotional needs of their students into account and craft discipline policies that touch on the root causes of troubling behavior, the case raises two key questions: To what degree should schools be expected to address the effects of childhood trauma? And, is a lawsuit that frames such effects as a disability – as this suit does – the best way to ensure that schools do better by these students? In Compton, near Los Angeles, many students have witnessed violent deaths or have been placed in foster care because of abuse, neglect, or drug addiction within their families. The lawsuit alleges that the district has not offered training to staff to understand the effects of trauma on students and that it has done little to provide mental-health counseling or other supports. Instead, it contends, students dealing with multiple traumas are frequently punished and excluded in ways that make it particularly difficult for them to succeed in school – often getting put into what civil rights activists term the school-to-prison pipeline.”(more)