As students across the District and around the region head back to school, we are reminded that education remains one of the most powerful pathways to opportunity and justice.
The start of a new school year brings excitement, possibility, and hope. It also highlights the barriers many students continue to face. Ensuring that every student can learn, grow, and thrive requires more than a seat in a classroom. It requires a sustained commitment to fairness, dignity, and equal opportunity.
This fall, we continue our work alongside students, families, and community partners to protect educational equity and advance civil rights. We are grateful to our supporters, pro bono partners, and community allies who make this work possible. Together, we will continue fighting to ensure that every student, in every classroom, has an equal chance to learn, grow, and thrive.
Thank you for standing with us.
Kaitlin Banner
Deputy Legal Director
Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs
Shenandoah County: Court Rules in Favor of Our Plaintiffs
Education is more than academics. It is about belonging, dignity, and the opportunity for every child to learn in an environment free from discrimination.
This month, those principles were reaffirmed in a landmark victory for students in our case in Shenandoah County, VA. A federal court found that the Shenandoah County School Board’s decision to reinstate school names honoring Confederate leaders violated the constitutional and civil rights of Black students. The court concluded that restoring those names perpetuated racial discrimination and denied Black students equal educational opportunities, and ordered the School Board to remove the names “Stonewall Jackson” and “Ashby-Lee” and adopt new school names that are not racially discriminatory.
Our Shenandoah case builds on a long tradition of efforts to address the lasting effects of segregation and discrimination in education. It is a reminder that the fight for equal educational opportunity did not end with Brown v. Board of Education. Today, students and families continue to confront barriers that affect their ability to learn, belong, and succeed, and meaningful change often requires courageous advocacy and legal action.
While the court has ordered the School Board to replace the Confederate school names, the work is not over. The Washington Lawyers’ Committee, the Virginia State Conference NAACP, and our pro bono partner Covington & Burling LLP are continuing to advocate for full implementation of the court’s ruling and to ensure that Shenandoah County students can learn in schools that reflect the values of equality and inclusion.
WLC’s Class Action Lawsuit Against OSSE Moves Forward
Every school day begins with the trip to the classroom, but for thousands of D.C. students with disabilities, unreliable transportation has become a barrier to education itself.
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee has been litigating a class action lawsuit against the District of Columbia’s Office of the State Superintendent for Education (OSSE) on behalf of parents, guardians, and The Arc of the United States. The lawsuit challenges a transportation system that has left students with disabilities facing unsafe, unreliable, and inappropriate service, causing missed instructional time and isolation from their peers.
The case seeks systemic reforms to ensure that the more than 4,000 District students who rely on specialized transportation can access the education and supports to which they are entitled under federal and local law. In January 2025, a federal court rejected the District’s efforts to dismiss the case, affirming that students with disabilities may pursue broad, structural relief when transportation failures deny them equal access to education.
In another significant milestone, the court certified a class in January 2026 that includes D.C. students with disabilities, ages 3 to 22, who since March 2022 have required transportation services and experienced unsafe, unreliable, or inappropriate transportation.
The litigation is now moving forward on behalf of thousands of students and families across the District. The Washington Lawyers’ Committee is currently defending the class certification order in the D.C. Circuit following an appeal by the District of Columbia. At the same time, the parties are engaged in discovery, with summary judgment briefing and argument scheduled for Spring 2027.
Through this litigation, we continue to advocate for a transportation system that allows students with disabilities to arrive at school safely, consistently, and ready to learn. Reliable transportation is not a privilege. It is an essential educational service — and a civil right.
Major Step Forward in Our Lawsuit Challenging Brutal Assault of Juvenile at D.C. Youth Detention Center
In June 2026, a federal district court denied D.C.’s motion to dismiss our case brought on behalf of J.D., a 14-year-old who was brutally assaulted while in custody of a detention facility operated by the D.C. Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services (DYRS).
The lawsuit alleges that a DYRS staffer punched J.D. in the face, fracturing his jaw in two places, and then strangled him as he lay bleeding — while a DYRS supervisor watched. The assault was so brutal that a nurse practitioner told DYRS’s Office of Internal Integrity that during her time at Youth Services Center she had “never seen a youth covered in that much blood.” J.D. will continue to suffer the pain and discomfort of a permanently misaligned jaw for the rest of his life.
Despite the bloody assault, DYRS did not report the attack to D.C.’s Office of Independent Juvenile Justice Facilities Oversight, as required by D.C. law. The complaint alleges that the city has allowed a culture of abuse to flourish within DYRS, traumatizing the very young people it is charged with protecting and rehabilitating.
The court decision marks an important step toward establishing a legal standard in D.C. to ensure proper care, treatment, and services for youth in DYRS custody.
Ensuring Access and Support for D.C. Students With Disabilities
Students with disabilities have the right to attend school and participate in after-school programs alongside their non-disabled peers. And yet — in between shopping for school supplies and back-to-school outfits like everyone else — families of students with disabilities also need to advocate to ensure that accommodations are in place.
In December 2024, the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Ropes & Gray filed a lawsuit on behalf of Keysha Powell and her daughter, S.R., alleging that D.C. failed to accommodate S.R.’s asthma and allergies in its afterschool program, in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the D.C. Human Rights Act. S.R. needs trained staff available to administer her medication, including an inhaler and EpiPen, to help prevent an asthma attack or treat a life-threatening allergic reaction. But for several school years, D.C. did not ensure that trained staff were available to provide that support.
As the new school year starts, families should confirm that their child’s afterschool program has a staff member trained in the administration of medication (AOM) so all students can stay safe and supported at school.
Please contact info@washlaw.org if you or someone you know is not receiving the necessary accommodation to equally participate in an afterschool program.
Board Co-Chairs Brian Schneider (ArentFox Schiff) Avis Buchanan (retired)
The Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs works to create legal, economic, and social equity for low-income marginalized communities in Maryland, Virginia, Washington DC, and across the country. We partner with individuals and communities facing discrimination and with the legal community to achieve justice. We bring strategic litigation to advance fair housing, disability rights, education equity, workers’ rights, immigrant justice, women’s rights, and criminal legal system reform.
