J.R. v. Oxnard School District
On June 9, 2017, Disability Rights Advocates, Learning Rights Law Center, and the Law Office of Shawna L. Parks filed a lawsuit in the Central District of California on behalf of the organization Primero Los Niños and 10 individual children with disabilities, charging that the Oxnard School District does not provide special education evaluations or services for students who show clear signs of having a disability. The law firm of Vanaman German LLP later joined as counsel as well.
Federal disability rights laws require school districts to quickly identify and evaluate students who may have a disability. These requirements are known as “child find.” The case alleged that the District’s failure to conduct “child find” in a timely or systemic way resulted in many Oxnard children failing their classes—and seventh- and eighth-graders not being able to read and write.
For example, seventh-grader M.L. showed signs of a serious disability for the four years he attended school in the District. However, he could not read and failed all of his subjects for years. Despite M.L.’s signs of a disability, the District did not consider whether he should receive special education services until he joined the group of children and their parents who filed this lawsuit. Plaintiffs presented the Court with stories from nearly two dozen students similarly affected by the District’s policies and alleged that hundreds more in the class are likewise affected.
The Oxnard School District has nearly 14,000 students at 21 schools. Its students are more than ninety percent Latino, and more than half are classified as English Language Learners. Many parents in the district, including several of the parents involved in this lawsuit, are agricultural workers.
On July 30, 2019, Federal Judge John A. Kronstadt of the Central District of California certified the class of elementary and middle school children. The parties engaged in litigation over the next several years, and the case was extensively litigated through cross motions for summary judgment.
The parties have now reached a settlement agreement. The parties engaged in extensive negotiations, and reached a final agreement in Spring of 2025 with the help of a third party mediator. The Court preliminarily approved the class settlement on August 25, 2025.
The agreement provides for significant injunctive relief that addresses the District’s policies and procedures regarding the identification, referral, and evaluation of students for purposes of providing services or accommodations under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (“IDEA”), Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”). Read a summary of the settlement, the settlement agreement, and the Court’s order on class certification.