FORMER POLICE OFFICER TO SERVE 12 MONTHS FOR MAKING FALSE STATEMENTS TO FBI DURING CIVIL RIGHTS INVESTIGATION

FROM:  U.S. JUSTICE DEPARTMENT
Friday, April 17, 2015
Former Puerto Rico Police Officer Sentenced for Making False Statements to FBI During Civil Rights Investigation

Former Puerto Rico Police Officer Miguel Negron Vazquez was sentenced today to serve 12 months and one day in prison for making a false statement to a Special Agent of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) during a federal investigation into civil rights violations related to the fatal beating of Jose Luis Irizarry Perez, 19, announced Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Vanita Gupta of the Civil Rights Division, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez of the District of Puerto Rico and Special Agent in Charge Carlos Cases of the FBI San Juan Field Office.

Negron Vazquez pleaded guilty to falsely telling the FBI that two officers, who later pleaded guilty to unnecessarily striking Irizarry Perez with their batons, never approached or interacted with the victim during the incident.  In total, six Puerto Rico police officers have pleaded guilty for their roles in the beating and subsequent obstruction of the civil rights investigation, and two of those officers are still awaiting sentencing.  According to documents filed in connection with the guilty pleas, two former Puerto Rico police officers violated the constitutional rights of Irizarry Perez by striking him with their police batons while another former police officer physically restrained Irizarry Perez during an election evening celebration at the Las Colinas housing development in Yauco, Puerto Rico, on Nov. 5, 2008.  

U.S. District Court Judge Juan M. Perez Gimenez issued the sentence, which will be followed by two years of supervised release.  During the two-year term, the defendant will be under federal supervision, and risks additional prison time should he violate any terms of his supervised release.

“Lying to the FBI or concealing information during the course of a federal civil rights investigation undermines the public’s trust in the criminal justice system and will not be tolerated,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Gupta.  “The department will aggressively investigate and prosecute those who seek to cover up or obstruct a federal investigation.”

“Today's sentence affirms that law enforcement officers are not above the very laws they are sworn to uphold,” said U.S. Attorney Rodriguez-Vélez.  “The defendant’s conduct undermined law enforcement’s expectation of honesty from public officials and those who desire to serve.”

This case was investigated by the FBI’s San Juan Division and is being prosecuted by Senior Litigation Counsel Gerard Hogan and Trial Attorneys Shan Patel and Olimpia E. Michel of the Civil Rights Division and Assistant U.S. Attorney Jose A. Contreras of the District of Puerto Rico.

HAZLETON, PA., AREA SCHOOL DISTRICT AGREES TO EQUALIZE EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY FOR ENGLISH LEARNER STUDENTS

FROM:  U.S. EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

U.S. Department of Education Announces Resolution of Hazleton, Pa., Area School District Civil Rights Investigation

APRIL 11, 2014

The U.S. Department of Education announced today that its Office for Civil Rights (OCR) has entered into an agreement with the Hazleton, Pa., Area School District to bring the district into compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 for English Language Learner (ELL) students in the district.

OCR initiated an investigation to assess whether ELL students in the district have access to equal educational opportunities and whether the district adequately notifies national origin minority parents and guardians who are limited-English proficient (LEP) of school activities that are called to the attention of other parents.

“The Hazleton Area School District’s decision to equalize educational opportunity for its nearly 11,000 students, including its nearly 1,300 English language learner students and their families is a major step forward for the district’s children and families,” said assistant secretary for Civil Rights Catherine E. Lhamon. “This agreement protects English language learner students’ longstanding right to equal opportunity to participate in school programs, services and activities. The agreement also ensures that the district provides language assistance services to limited English proficient parents – to support their active participation in their children’s education.”


OCR found the district noncompliant in the following ways:

Some students whose primary language is not English were inappropriately excused from the English language development program;
The district did not provide required instructional time for over 240 elementary school ELL students;
The district did not evaluate the effectiveness of its program and address any deficiencies;
The district did not have an effective system to identify LEP parents and to ensure that interpreters were always available when needed.
Under the agreement, the district will take a number of corrective actions, including:

Ensuring that students whose primary home language is not English will be promptly assessed for English language proficiency to determine eligibility for placement in an English language development program and that students will not be improperly exempted from assessment;
Assessing students who were improperly exempted from language proficiency assessment to determine whether they may be eligible to receive English language development services;
Conducting a comprehensive evaluation of the English language development program at each school level to determine its effectiveness and making modifications to address areas where the program is not meeting the district’s goals;
Developing and implementing policies and procedures to ensure that LEP parents are notified, in a language they understand, of school activities that are called to the attention of other parents; and Providing training to appropriate staff on procedures for identifying language-minority parents and on policies and procedures for serving language minority parents.

OCR will closely monitor implementation of the agreement to ensure that the commitments are implemented in a timely and effective manner and that they result in equal opportunities for students to participate in the district’s education programs.

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AND WHITE PLAINS PUBLIC SCHOOLS RESOLVE CIVIL RIGHTS INVESTIGATION

FROM: U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION
U.S. Department of Education Announces Resolution of White Plains, N.Y., Public Schools Civil Rights Investigation

April 18, 2013

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced today that it has entered into a resolution agreement with the White Plains, New., Public Schools. The agreement commits the district to ensuring that all students, including African American, Hispanic and English Language Learner (ELL) students, are provided with equal opportunity and equal access to challenging classes and programs that will put students on a pathway for success in college and careers.

Under the agreement, the district will, as necessary:
Expand criteria to determine eligibility and selection for enrollment in programs and courses.
Expand student, parent, and community outreach about the available courses and programs; and
Make improvements to the academic counseling services at the middle and high school levels and training for relevant district and school site administrators and personnel.
These changes will be based on recommendations from an expert consultant, feedback from students, parents and staff, and a comprehensive self-assessment.

"Every student, regardless of his or her race, color, or national origin, must have an equal opportunity to participate in rigorous programs and courses that will put them on the right track toward being ready for college and careers," said Seth Galanter, acting assistant secretary for civil rights. "I applaud the steps the White Plains Public Schools have agreed to take to help ensure their compliance with Title VI."

OCR initiated a compliance review at White Plains under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to assess whether the district discriminated against minority students by establishing and implementing policies and procedures that resulted in their exclusion from enrichment programs, advanced/honors courses and Advanced Placement (AP) courses.

Because the district begins identifying students for its enrichment program as early as the end of second grade, it is critical that the process, criteria and communication about entry to the enrichment program ensure an equal opportunity for all students to access and participate in the program. These types of programs frequently serve as a path to advanced/honors courses and AP courses at the high school level. African American, Hispanic and ELL students had disproportionately lower enrollment in all those program and courses.

The district worked closely with OCR and voluntarily entered into a resolution agreement prior to the completion of the investigation.

As a result, OCR made no findings on lack of compliance. The office's investigation revealed, however, that a disproportionately low number of minority students were participating in the district's high school Honors and AP high school courses and in earlier enrichment programs and advanced courses at the elementary and middle school levels.

For example, during school year 2011-2012, African American students represented 18 percent of the high school student enrollment, but less than 10 percent (37 of 395 students), of the Honors and AP enrollment.

That same year, Hispanic students represented 47 percent of the high school student enrollment, but only 31 percent (122 of 395) of the Honors and AP enrollment; and ELL students represented 9 percent of the high school enrollment, but only 3 percent (10 of 395) of the Honors and AP enrollment. If minority students were provided equal opportunities to participate in enrichment programs in their earlier years, they would have been more likely to participate in Honors and AP classes proportionate to their high school enrollment; over 100 additional minority students would have been enrolled in Honors and AP.

OCR's mission is to ensure equal access to education and promote educational excellence throughout the nation through the vigorous enforcement of civil rights. OCR is responsible for enforcing federal civil rights laws that prohibit discrimination by educational institutions on the basis of disability, race, color, national origin, sex, and age, as well as the Boy Scouts of America Equal Access Act of 2001.