Casey A. v. Gundry is a class action lawsuit against officials at the Los Angeles County Office of Education and against the Los Angeles Probation Department. It challenges the inadequate educational and rehabilitative services provided to youth who were detained at the county’s largest juvenile probation camp, the Challenger Memorial Youth Center. The problems at Challenger included lack of meaningful instruction for students detained there and a complete absence of programming for the youth.

The ACLU reached a comprehensive settlement in May 2011 that requires the defendants to overhaul the educational, rehabilitative, and transition programs for youth at Challenger, with monitoring and technical support from three nationally recognized experts in providing education in detention settings.  The settlement also required defendants to provide compensatory services to students who had been denied adequate services.

The ACLU is currently monitoring settlement implementation, and the court retained jurisdiction over the case for four years to ensure compliance with the settlement.

Case Developments

UPDATE
February 6, 2012
LACOE Probation filed its corrective action plan to come into compliance with the settlement agreement.

UPDATE
December 16, 2011
The ACLU reached an agreement with the defendants under which they would develop corrective action plans in consultation with the experts to address the areas of non-compliance with the settlement agreement identified in the 11/15/11 expert report.

UPDATE
November 15, 2011
Second quarterly monitoring report released by expert team.

UPDATE
July 8, 2011
First quarterly monitoring report released by expert team.

UPDATE
May 2011
The ACLU reached a comprehensive settlement that requires the defendants to overhaul the educational, rehabilitative, and transition programs for youth at Challenger, with monitoring and technical support from three nationally recognized experts in providing education in detention settings. Read more about the settlement.

UPDATE
November 4, 2010
The settlement agreement calls for a panel of experts to help develop a detailed reform plan in 13 areas that will transform education and rehabilitative services provided to students at Challenger over a period of four years.

FILING
January 8, 2010
The ACLU/SC filed the complaint alleging numerous violations of students’ educational rights.

Pro Bono Law Firm(s)

Public Counsel; Disability Rights Legal Center; American Civil Liberties Union Racial Justice Program

Date filed

January 11, 2010

Court

United States District Court for the Central District of California

Judge

Hon. George H. King

Case number

CV1000192