Exam School Admissions and COVID-19 →

The Exam School Admissions Working Group for Boston Public Schools (BPS) recently presented its recommendations to the School Committee regarding how the district should alter the 2021-2022 admissions cycle. If adopted, the recommendations would address many of concerns surrounding equity and exam school admissions, particularly in light of COVID-19. Although the...

Digital Racial Gap in Boston Public Schools →

Digital Divide in Boston Public Schools Exacerbates Disparities Along Racial Lines and Disabilities Boston City Councilor Andrea Campbell and Lawyers for Civil Rights Urge Immediate Action to Close the Digital Gap As Boston Public Schools (BPS) gets ready for its remote reopening next week with plans to phase in a hybrid...

Statement on Boston’s Exam School Admission Errors →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) has learned that, due to database errors beginning in December 2018, a number of students entitled to admission at one of Boston's three exam schools either did not receive invitations at all or were not invited to their top choice of school for both the...

Student Advocacy Groups Sue BPS and BPD for Records on Information Sharing With ICE →

Student Advocacy Groups Sue Boston Schools, Police Department to Uncover Records Showing Student Information-Sharing With ICE As police reform takes center stage at the national, state, and local levels, the Center for Law and Education, Inc. (CLE), Multicultural Education, Training, and Advocacy, Inc. (META), and Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR)...

Calling on BPS To Scrap The Test →

Lawyers for Civil Rights Calls On Boston Public Schools To Scrap Test For The O’Bryant, Boston Latin Academy and Boston Latin School In Light Of COVID-19 Pandemic and the Racial Digital Divide Urges School District To Follow Its Own Task Force Recommendation Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) calls upon Boston Public Schools (BPS) to adopt...

Defund School Police →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) commends the Minneapolis public school board for its unanimous vote last week to end financial ties with the Minneapolis Police Department after yet another unarmed Black man, George Floyd, was murdered by police. With support of students and the Minneapolis teachers union, the school board said that the...

Coronavirus Pandemic Response →

Intake The demand for our free legal services has increased exponentially since the start of the public health and economic crisis.  Since March, we have received over 350 requests for legal assistance (intakes). The estimated demographic breakdown is as follows: 55% Black; 25% Latinx; 10% Asian American; and 10% other....

Defending Diversity in Higher Education →

Coalition of Harvard Students Submit Bold Legal ResistanceAgainst Continued Attacks on School’s Affirmative Action Policies Multiethnic Group of Students and Alumni File New Legal Brief in Appeals Court to Protect Racial Diversity at Harvard and Other Schools A diverse group of Harvard students and alumni of color (student-amici) dismissed the intentions and likely...

Data on Boston’s Exam Schools →

We are in the midst of an unprecedented public health crisis affecting all families and students. We applaud the City of Boston and Boston Public Schools (BPS) for their life-saving support for families and students in this crisis. As the pandemic continues to unfold, we are well aware that urgent...

Coronavirus Legal Warriors →

As legal first responders, at a time when many doors are closing, we are opening ours wider. In response to an unprecedented need, we're adding a new coronavirus legal warrior to our team. This expansion is critical to deepening and expanding free support for affected families, including help with unemployment...

Legal Responses to COVID-19 →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) is launching a comprehensive legal and policy initiative across immigration, education, housing and the census to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on our most vulnerable communities. Specifically, we are advocating to: Secure demographic and racial data on coronavirus infections and death. Stop immigration raids,...

Emergency Measures Needed →

As the coronavirus pandemic unfolds rapidly, it is imperative that state and local policy leaders enact emergency measures that will protect the most vulnerable populations. For those with higher incomes and more social supports, the sudden changes in daily life due to the pandemic will be inconvenient and disruptive. But...

Boston’s New ICE Policy Excludes Community Voices →

Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) condemns the City of Boston’s effort to move forward with critical policy decisions surrounding Boston Public Schools (BPS) and Boston Police Department (BPD) entanglement with ICE via the Boston Regional Information Center (BRIC) without vital community support. SIM, Unafraid Educators, and other key stakeholders have been...

Support for Black Lives Matter at School Week →

Earlier this week, Michael Leary, President of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association (BPPA), opposed the Boston Teachers Union’s (BTU) support of Black Lives Matter At School Week—an annual week of action organized by a national coalition working for racial justice in education. Lawyers for Civil Rights (LCR) condemns the BPPA’s...

Smoking Gun Reveals Extent of Boston’s Intentional Exclusion of Students of Color from Exam Schools →

Test Maker Slams Boston for “Misapplication” of Exam and “Refusal” to Make Needed Reforms In a bombshell announcement, the makers of the test used by Boston Public Schools (BPS) in its exam school admissions process disclosed that it repeatedly warned BPS that it was misusing the test in a manner that...

Entanglement Between Boston Public Schools and ICE →

BPS Must Shut Down School-to-Deportation Pipeline Immediately Documents secured in a lawsuit brought by civil rights and education advocates show far more extensive interactions between Boston Public Schools (BPS) and federal immigration enforcement than the City has previously admitted. Since 2014, at least 135 student incident reports generated by BPS...

2019 Annual Report →

Check out our latest work. Our 2019 year-in-review is available here: [pdf-embedder url="http://lawyersforcivilrights.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/11/2019-Annual-Report-DIGITAL.pdf" title="2019 Annual Report DIGITAL"]

Victory! Federal Court Upholds Harvard’s Admissions Policy →

Victory! Federal Court Upholds Harvard's Admissions Policy LCR Represents Diverse Group Of Students And Alumni Who Testified At Trial In Support Of Race-Conscious Admissions Federal Judge Allison D. Burroughs issued a landmark ruling today in favor of Harvard University in Students for Fair Admissions (SFFA) v. Harvard. Today’s decision strongly reaffirms...