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Devon Rios: Tiger Trainer
Devon Rios – Equal Justice Works Fellow, sponsored by Munger Tolles & Olson was recently featured in L.A. Weekly Magazine.
“An Inclusive Life: Focus on Education and Life After School”
On Monday, April 4, 2011, Janeen Steel, Learning Rights Executive Director, gave the Inspirational Keynote Speaker at Inclusion Institute’s conference on “Focus on Education and Life after School,” sponsored by Area Board 10 of the California State Council on Developmental Disabilities (SCDD). Ms. Steel also conducted a basic training about special education administrative hearings called “Navigating Your Legal Options.” The conference was held at the California Endowment Center and included two full days of trainings on special education issues facing children with developmental disabilities. The conference provided a great background for networking with fellow advocates, associates, as well as, reaching out to the community who were in attendance for the conference. Over 200 people attended the conference.
Click here to download the conference brochure and registration form.
LOCAL STUDENT WITH DISABILITY DENIED ACCESS TO SCHOOL BUILDING BECAUSE OF DISTRICT’S POLICY; LEARNING RIGHTS LAW CENTER SUPPORTS PRO BONO WORK
February 18, 2011: This week, KCBS-TV Los Angeles ran a story featuring Desiree, a student with a hereditary degenerative physical disability. Desiree shares this condition with her sibling and her mother. The condition makes walking difficult for Desiree, and walking up stairs is especially problematic. The two-story school building offered a solution – Desiree and her sibling could use the elevator. Unfortunately, the compassion stopped before the elevator could reach Desiree.
L.A. Times Article, June 3, 2010
LRLC Executive Director Janeen Steel responds to LAUSD’s Comments:
The Los Angeles Times article “Disabled students losing 200 classes” by Howard Blume on Thursday, June 3, 2010 was troubling.
As the Executive Director of Learning Rights Law Center, I was shocked at the overt discriminatory statements made by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) Superintendent Ramone C. Cortines, “You have to look at it in perspective, when you fund some of the special ed things, you’re taking from regular kids.” Over the past 10 years, I have been representing low-income students with disabilities throughout Los Angeles and have seen the disparity in treatment and discrimination first hand.
LRLC Executive Director Janeen Steel quoted in October 2009 California Lawyers Magazine:
Below is an excerpt from the article “Up Against It: Caught Between Growing Demand and Diminishing Resources, Legal Non-Profits Get Creative.
More Needs to Be Done to Guarantee Quality Education for At-Risk Youth, Learning Rights Tells House Subcommittees:
Watch Slide Show From Official Committee Website
Janeen Steel, foreground, preparing to testify before Congress on March 12, 2009
Learning Rights Law Center is a nonprofit legal services organization whose mission is to ensure education equity for all students. Learning Rights focuses on students in the K-12 school system, including children who are in the foster care and juvenile systems.
Learning Rights and Janeen Steel highlighted in the South Bay’s Daily Breeze:
On January 3, 2008, Learning Rights and Janeen Steel were highlighted in an article in the South Bay’s Daily Breeze. Janeen was quoted: “The statistics are that so many families are not getting what they need in special education and end up in litigation.”
Alicia Miñana, LRLC Chair, and Janeen Steel, Executive Director, in the Spring 2007 UCLA Law Alumni Magazine:
Click here to read about Alicia Miñana, LRLC Chair, and Janeen Steel, Executive Director, in the Spring 2007 UCLA Law Alumni Magazine.
Oversight for these alternative programs varies largely by state, county and school district – making it unclear if at-risk youth are receiving the same quality of education as they would in traditional schools. Consistent regulations are needed to make sure that students can transition more smoothly between alternative education facilities and traditional schools – or that students don’t fall through the cracks.
