Parents and teachers in Dinuba, CA filed suit against the Dinuba Unified School District and the State of California, charging that the school district and state are violating students’ fundamental right to equal educational opportunity. The lawsuit seeks to stop this Central Valley school district from denying basic instruction in reading to 1st and 2nd grade English learners and from using a fundamentally flawed and unproven method of teaching English to them.

The lawsuit, the first of its kind in California, asks that the program be stopped and also seeks to ensure that the state of California honor its responsibility to ensure that all school districts provide equal opportunity to a meaningful education for the state’s schoolchildren.

Case Developments

UPDATE
August 16, 2012
Dinuba Unified School District agreed to stop using SLADI and to implement a new program for young English learners. Read more about the settlement.

FILING
May 30, 2012
Parents and teachers in Dinuba, CA filed suit against the Dinuba Unified School District and the State of California, charging that the school district and state are violating students’ fundamental right to equal educational opportunity. Read more about the suit.

Pro Bono Law Firm(s)

ACLU of Northern California; ACLU of San Diego and Imperial Counties; California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc.; Asian Pacific American Legal Center; Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Date filed

May 29, 2012

Court

Superior Court of the State of California, County of Sacramento

Case number

34-80001164