Important! Attorney handling class action lawsuit vs. NYS exams wants to hear from NYS parents

Van White, the attorney handling the class action lawsuit of parents whose child was punished for opting out of the state exams in the Rochester area, is looking for information from New York state parents, to be sent to him at van.white@thelegalbrief.com. 

More specifically, he would like to hear from parents if their children opted out of these exams and were punished in some way by their schools or districts, as well as from parents whose children opted out but received no punishment.  He is especially interested in hearing from parents of children who were deprived of some "instructionally related event or material" as a result.

Please send him your stories, along with your name, school, district and your child's grade level, to help him gather evidence about unequal treatment of students across the state.  His email is below; please contact him directly with this information. 

More on this case can be found here.  The defendants in the lawsuit include the State of New York, the NYS Education Department, Commissioner of Education John B. King, the Rush-Henrietta School District, its Board of Education, Superintendent J. Kenneth Graham Jr., and the Burger Middle School principal. And please forward this message to other parents.  Thanks!

On Apr 27, 2013, at 3:08 PM, Van White <van.white@thelegalbrief.com> wrote:

Hello. My name is Van White.  I am an attorney in Rochester, NY.  By now I think you may have heard from several sources …that I am representing a family whose son is being punished (no extra curricular activities for each day he refused to take the state assessment exams).  One of the claims made in the suit is that there is great disparity among how children are being treated for having opted out and this inequity, we argue, amounts to a violation of the Equal Protection clause.

To support this claim I'm looking for parents/students who opted out and were either punished or not punished.  Because it seems that most districts did not punish, I am especially  interested in cases where students were punished.  Moreover in those cases (where they were punished)  I am particularly interested in those students who were denied access to some instructionally related event or material. (That is because the more the activity relates to the instructional arena, the more likely the court will find that it is a constitutional violation.) I am trying to amend the complaint (with any additional clients or facts that I get) to keep the case moving along, so your prompt response would be appreciated. Please let me know if you need anything further.  Thank you.