NEW YORK (Sputnik) — Public schools in Utica, New York have been violating state law by denying refugees the opportunity to earn a high school diploma, according to a federal class action lawsuit filed by the New York Civil Liberties Union (NYCLU).
“Young people are coming to Utica after fleeing violence and persecution only to be shut out by the city’s only public high school,” NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman said in a press release on Thursday.
The lawsuit, filed on behalf of a group of refugee and immigrant students, alleges that 17 to 20-year-old refugees were not accepted into public high schools, but were transferred instead to alternative sub-par programs.
One of the programs offered only English classes and offered no classes in mathematics, science or history, thus preventing students from earning a high school diploma, a common requirement to being admitted into college, according to the NYCLU.
Legal Services of Central New York staff attorney Susan Young said the students came to the United States from refugee camps across the world, seeking safety, security and a better way of life.
"While our country has opened its doors to the students, the Utica City School District has barred its doors, in violation of federal and state law, presenting these students from taking their first steps towards achieving their American Dreams,” Young added.
According to a statement obtained by Sputnik from the Utica City School District, “the allegations are totally unfounded and without merit.”
The City of Utica is located in the central part of the US state of New York and has become a destination for refugees from all over the world, mainly because of the creation of the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees there. The Resource Center has resettled more than 15,000 individuals to the City of Utica since 1981, according to its website.
