Perez vs Sturgis Public Schools: A Student Who Fell Through The Cracks

The U.S. Supreme Court made a unanimous decision last week, ruling in favor of a deaf student, Miguel Luna Perez, who sued the Sturgis Public School System in Michigan for inadequate assistance during his education due to his disability. 

Perez’s lawyer, Roman Martinez, claims that the school lied to Perez’s family about his schoolwork for over a decade while neglecting him the proper assistance he is guaranteed under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. According to a news article published by PBS, the school inflated Perez’s grades to make him appear as if he was on track to graduate. As graduation grew nearer, the family was informed that Perez would be unable to receive his diploma.  

A Legal Victory

The Perez family sued the school district under both the IDEA and the Americans with Disabilities Act. The family reached a settlement in the IDEA claims case in which the school agreed to pay for sign language instruction as well as additional schooling. Perez graduated from the Michigan School for the Deaf in 2020. The ADA case is still ongoing.

Martinez said in an emailed statement: “We are thrilled with today’s decision. The court’s ruling vindicates the rights of students with disabilities to obtain full relief when they suffer discrimination."

Students with disabilities being denied necessary services is not a new phenomenon. For example, a 2018 Department of Education report found that "many" Texas schools were purposely denying special education benefits to students in order to save money. 

Students Fall Through the Cracks  

The mistreatment Perez faced was due to a lack of adequate management resources on the district's end. 

Perez’s legal team told the court that the school system failed him by hiring a teaching aide that didn’t know sign language and wasn’t properly trained to work with deaf children. Records indicate that Perez was left alone for hours at a time, and still has trouble communicating due to his lack of foundational sign language skills.  

Perez was left behind as a result of poor health, safety and wellness policies that should have tracked and dealt with his requests for assistance. 

Schools losing track of kids within their system is more common than you might imagine. According to a study published by Edweekly, America’s public school system lost track of 1.3 million students during the 2020-2021 school year.

Where Kokomo24/7® Steps In 

Kokomo24/7® knows you care about your students' well-being. We understand that every school faces its own unique set of challenges and can provide a robust, yet easy to use software platform to better track and manage incidents in your school as they happen. Kokomo24/7® software like our Incident Management tools help foster a healthier and safer study environment for all students. 

Ever since Kokomo24/7® was founded in 2018, we have been a leader in compliance and risk management solutions for all things health and safety. Kokomo24/7® proudly serves schools, communities, and workplaces. Our mission is to deliver highly effective, easy-to-use, and trusted compliance and risk management solutions that bridge the gap between public safety and technology. 

Whether you work for a small school, a big-city public district, or any institution in between, we want to hear from you. To learn more about Kokomo24/7® or to get a free 15-minute demo click the button below.