A Westport family has filed a federal civil rights case against the Westport school district and the town claiming racial discrimination and denial of needed special education services.
Carla Karlen has filed the case on behalf of her two children against the town, Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon, Pupil Services Director Cynthia Gilchrist and former Coleytown Elementary School Principal Kaye May.
Schools Superintendent Elliott Landon said today he had no comment on the case.
The court papers, which were filed today in Town Hall, state that Karlen is African American, her spouse is Caucasian and her children are biracial, and one child has a number of learning disabilities inlcuding Dyslexia, Dysgraphia, Auditory Integration Disorder and Erlin Syndrome.
When her daughter was in first grade at Coleytown Elementary, the papers state, Karlen informed school officials that “she would like to see other children of color in the classroom with her daughter.”
The assistant principal told Karlen that because her daughter’s skin “is so fair, we don’t think of her as black,” and that the Bridgeport students are kept separate “for obvious reasons,” the court papers state.
Karlen contacted former First Selectwoman Diane Farrell about the situation, the court papers state, and soon after became “persona non grata” at Coleytown and throughout the town.
“School administrators were suddenly antagonistic toward the plaintiffs,” the court papers state. “When the adult plaintiff would visit the school, janitors and other male personnel would follow her. Staff members would openly stare and whisper. PTA members became hostile and treated the adult plaintiff as if she were invisible. The minor plaintiffs suddenly had difficulty getting playdates.”
At the same time, one child’s learning disabilities became more apparent when she had difficulty reading, the court papers state, and she was identified as being dyslexic.
The administrators, however, allegedly insinuated that a dysfunctional home life would be a factor in why the child could not read, the papers state.
School officials, the court papers state, also determined the child to not be Dyslexic or to have any learning disability, but they would give her support.
There were also altercations in the older child’s third grade class, the court papers state, but the principal ruled for the other children in every case.
The students were transferred to Long Lots Elementary for the 2001 school year, the papers state, and the oldest child was classified as needing special needs support, including for Dyslexia, but there is difficulty in getting the services.
She then attends private school in 2003-05 because Bedford Middle School “proves too much for her to handle due to her Auditory Integration issues,” the papers state.
