BATON ROUGE, LA - Attorney General
Jeff Landry voiced his serious concerns to top education officials in Louisiana
over the lack of due process for Ka'Mauri Harrison, a 9-year old fourth grader
who was suspended earlier this month after safely and responsibly handling a BB
gun during a virtual learning session, and other students who have been denied
appeals.
In a letter to the Louisiana
Department of Education and the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary
Education, AG Landry notes that the law clearly grants parents and their child
a right to appeal to the School Board and to seek judicial review of a decision
by the Superintendent when the child has been recommended for expulsion. By
systemically violating students’ constitutional rights, AG Landry declares,
school systems’ eligibility for state and federal funds are jeopardized.
“Legal action can often be a
lengthy process, but I am committed to seeing this through no matter how long
it takes,” said AG Landry. “Today’s letter is just the next of many steps my
office and I are taking to seek justice for Ka'Mauri and his family.”
“Ka'Mauri is a bright young man
with a great family; and the fact that he was recommended for expulsion,
received a suspension, and not given his right to appeal is appalling,” added
AG Landry. “Ka’Mauri was not only deprived of educational instruction, he was
also denied opportunity.”
“This Harrison family has
basically been sent into a bureaucratic abyss for no reason and told there is
no way out,” concluded AG Landry. “The ‘adults in the room’ failed Ka'Mauri
when they unfairly punished him; I will not let them fail him again.”
The letter comes the morning after
a lengthy meeting at the State Capitol with AG Landry and the Harrison family. (Pictures and video from that
meeting may be downloaded for use and broadcast at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/62ykxfonej8han8/AACETCPPx3iRGwuD5A71Ourwa?dl=0.)