Families to sue on impending closure of Providence’s 360 High School

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WLNE) — After months of looking for help from public officials, parents of 360 High School students are taking matters into their own hands, launching a lawsuit against the district with the help of the The Rhode Island Center of Justice to prevent their schools impending closure.

The lawsuit cites litigation about racial discrimination in school district, saying the closure of 360 represents an undue burden on multi-language learners, who make up 60 percent of the schools population.

Specifically, parents are saying the sudden closure and move to a school with fewer resources for those students is in violation of the equal educational opportunity act of 1974.

The suit is coming from four parents and their students, who their describe their experience with the school and their concerns about its removal, providing statements such as:

The ability to communicate with the teachers and staff at the 360 High School in her native language has allowed both her, the parent and the student, to be more included and to have a more effective educational experience than no other Providence schools. She has been able to be more hands on in education in a way she was unable to at any other Providence school.

Parents, teachers, and students have attempted to speak with legislators all the way up through Smith Hill, but haven’t found much success in pushing back on the planned closure of 360.
This lawsuits goal is to temporarily stop the closure of the school, and require the district to work with the community to create a transition plan that plaintiffs say does not violate the equal education opportunity act.

ABC6 has reached out to both sides of this litigation for comment but have not received any response. In previous statements, the Providence Public School District has cited chronic underperformance as a driving factor for the merger with Juanita Sanchez.