Sacramento City Unified School District is implementing a plan to remedy growing discrimination issues affecting disabled students starting in September 2025
Over the next five years the Sacramento City Unified School District has agreed to take steps towards the betterment of the district with an action plan meant to reduce the growing discrimination against disabled students in district schools. Originating from a lawsuit by the Black Parallel School Board requiring SCUSD to change its current handling of students of need in the district.
Lisa Allen, SCUSD superintendent, spoke highly of this new proposal through district posted statements through email.
“The action plan demonstrates Sac Unified’s unwavering commitment to equity and improving outcomes for our most vulnerable students,” Allen said.
The action plan will take on a variety of pressing issues across the district revolving around students with disabilities, including reducing segregated settings used to single out said students, revising flawed practices in place that are harmful to, and reconsidering the harsh disciplinary choices used when addressing said students by requiring the district to release the data of various disciplinary actions taken against the students who are considered disabled. As one of the baseline steps towards addressing this issue, looking at this data aims to hold SCUSD accountable.
The Black Parallel Schools board is assisting SCUSD with this action plan. They said, “This journey has been long, but now we have a clear action plan aimed at improving the district’s program.”
A spokesperson for the NPSB said, “This plan gives parents and advocates hope that the district is committed to meaningful changes that will enhance education for black students, students, and benefit all SCUSD students.”
Sacramento Unified continues to show their pushes towards greater equality across the district, Lavinia Phillips, the SCUSD Board of Education president. She expressed her optimism and excitement for the proposal.
“There has been a revitalized focus on improving student outcomes that drives the district’s efforts in the last year with how we acknowledge systemic racism and practices that have adversely affected black students,” Phillips said.
“SCUSD is confident the work put into and the continued partnerships in support of this action plan will improve the outcomes and codify the erasure of practices that have hurt black students in our district who have been identified as one of our most vulnerable populations,” said Phillips
