Utah parents sue to allow students to return to classrooms - East Idaho News
Utah

Utah parents sue to allow students to return to classrooms

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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A dozen parents have filed a civil rights lawsuit against the Salt Lake City School District after it refused to open schools and relied on remote learning, claiming the decision represented a “historic deprivation of rights.”

The lawsuit, filed Monday, claims the district’s decision stripped about 21,000 students of their rights to a free and open public education under the state Constitution, The Deseret News reported.

The Salt Lake City Board of Education voted earlier this year to conduct school only by remote learning, becoming the only district in the state to do so in response to the coronavirus pandemic, the lawsuit said.

According to the lawsuit, the district will only resume in-person learning when all COVID-19 tests taken in the county for a given week fell to “a randomly selected threshold of 5% or below, and the number of infected persons within the county fell to 10 per 100,000 individuals.”

The lawsuit claimed “unrealistic metrics” were adopted to dictate a return to school and that the school district “has abrogated its duty to properly and equitably educate these students.”

The lawsuit was filed against Republican Gov. Gary Herbert, the state Board of Education, the Salt Lake City Board of Education and Interim Salt Lake City School District Superintendent Larry Madden. The State School Board and Salt Lake board declined to comment Monday.

The school district’s failure to provide in-person learning opportunities, while other school districts are doing so “is a clear constitutional violation, and should promptly be remedied by this court,” the lawsuit said.

The school district has provided some in-person educational services for some students who receive special education services, are English language learners or are significantly behind academically.

The number of infections is thought to be far higher because many people have not been tested, and studies suggest people can be infected with the virus without feeling sick.

For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some — especially older adults and people with existing health problems — it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

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