A Bronx mother has filed a federal lawsuit against the New York City Department of Education (DOE), alleging that her teenage daughter faced discrimination, harassment, and negligence after becoming pregnant at age 14.
The student attended M.S./P.S. 29 in the Melrose neighborhood and learned she was pregnant near the start of the 2023-2024 school year. Her mother is now suing for unspecified damages accusing the DOE of violating the New York State Human Rights Law and federal Title IX, which protects students from sex discrimination, including pregnancy status, at schools receiving federal funding.
According to the complaint, the student, referred to as N.S. in the suit filed Jan. 22, was a diligent student who was selected for placement in advanced Algebra and taking Korean language classes. When N.S. found out she was pregnant, she planned to stay in school and requested accommodations from administration, such as bathroom breaks and access to food and water during class.
The student’s accommodation requests were granted by the school, but the complaint alleges that teachers did not abide by them and continued to deny her bathroom access and, on one occasion, forcibly removed food from her desk in front of other students.
Both state and federal law protect these rights for pregnant students, according to Samantha Hunt, attorney with A Better Balance, a national nonprofit legal advocacy organization whose organization is working on the case.
The complaint also states that N.S. told school administrators to keep the pregnancy news a secret for as long as possible, for fear of harassment from peers. But according to the complaint, administration not only failed to keep confidentiality but actually perpetuated the harassment.
For instance, when N.S. and her mother reported that a fellow student made fun of the pregnancy and asked her to perform sexual favors, an administrator wrote in reply, “Ha! Ha! My family and I are still laughing about [the harasser’s] strange and random comment.”
The student and her mother claim that they tried working with the DOE Title IX office, but both the office and school administration took little action to improve the harassment and classroom accommodations for N.S., according to the complaint.
Over time, it became clear that “the school and DOE were simply not receptive in meeting their legal obligations to care for this student, and that has led us to where we are now,” said Hunt.
The situation, according to lawsuit, became more challenging when N.S. was placed on bed rest. The complaint alleges that she was initially offered the opportunity to continue her regular classes via virtual learning, as students did during the pandemic, but then the school revoked the offer.
As a result, N.S. was required to enroll in the DOE’s Home Instruction Program, which did not offer the same rigorous courses and was “fraught with technical difficulties and quality issues,” according to the complaint. Title IX protections should have allowed N.S. to participate in virtual learning, Hunt said.
The student fell behind in her education, and her academic record suffered during the critical middle- to high school transition, said Hunt. N.S. also suffered “severe emotional distress that continues to this day” as a result of harassment and the school’s unwillingness to accommodate her pregnancy, the complaint alleges.
Even though pregnancy is a protected status under both local and federal law, the DOE “did little to protect [N.S.] from this mistreatment,” said Hunt, who said these kinds of situations are “unfortunately a more common problem than you might think.”
Evan Parness, an attorney with Covington and Burling LLP leading the case as part of the firm’s pro bono practice, said he hopes it will prevent other pregnant students from suffering the same harm.
According to Parness, the DOE asked for an extension to respond to the complaint, which he said is a fairly normal request. Their response is due April 4.
Hunt said the case has important ramifications for students in New York City and elsewhere. “These [Title IX] laws exist so that students don’t have to choose between their education and their pregnancy.”
The DOE was not immediately available for comment.
Reach Emily Swanson at eswanson@schnepsmedia.com or (646) 717-0015. For more coverage, follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram @bronxtimes
