From left to right: Linnea Nelson, Grayce Zelphin, Robyn Crowther, Claudia Center, and Malhar Shah
We are thrilled to announce that the attorney team for Mark S. v. State of California is being honored with a 2025 CLAY Award by the Daily Journal! The award is given to the California attorney teams who have handled the most impactful litigation over the last year. Former DREDF Staff Attorney, Malhar Shah, and current DREDF Legal Director, Claudia Center are part of the ground-breaking case of Mark S. v. State of California, alongside the ACLU of Northern California, the ACLU of Southern California, and pro bono counsel Steptoe LLP.
Together, the attorneys represented disabled students of color, their parents, and teachers against the State of California and Pittsburg Unified School District, and secured a landmark ruling and settlement agreements to ensure students throughout the California are provided with their fundamental right to education.
Read the story on the Daily Journal’s website (subscription required).
In 2020, Malhar, together with parent advocate Diana Vega and ACLU attorneys Ana Mendoza and Linnea Nelson, began investigating reports that the Pittsburg Unified School District maintained a separate, unequal, and illegal educational system where Black students, children of color with disabilities and English learners were denied access to evidence-based literacy instruction, segregated in substandard learning environments, excluded from classrooms altogether through the use of unwarranted suspensions and expulsions, and as a result, denied their constitutional right to a public education. As a result, only 5% of disabled students could read and write at grade level. Although the State of California knew about these poor outcomes, its monitoring system failed to identify the underlying policies and practices because it failed to collect qualitative data about school districts’ special education and discipline programs.
The attorneys employed a creative litigation strategy, challenging the State and District’s practices under the California Constitution. In a landmark ruling, the Contra Costa County Superior Court rejected an effort by the State and District to dismiss the lawsuit and held, on an issue of first impression, that disabled students have a constitutional right to a Free Appropriate Public Education (FAPE) and the special education services and supports it requires. The attorneys were also supported by DREDF’s parent advocates Diana Vega, Andrea Yu, and Juliet Barraza.
On June 21, 2024, after a four-year battle, the Plaintiffs and all State Defendants entered into a settlement agreement that requires the State to strengthen its monitoring and oversight of school districts to prevent systemic discrimination against Black students, students with disabilities, and English learners. Now, for the first time, the State must review individual student files to ensure students are treated fairly and have access to supportive learning environments. Furthermore, in direct response to the pressure from this lawsuit, the State has begun incorporating qualitative data review, including classroom observations and teacher interviews, into its monitoring of school districts’ special education programs. A discipline hotline has also been created so that potential discrimination can be reported.
On October 23, 2024, Plaintiffs and Pittsburg Unified School District entered into a settlement agreement that requires the District to hire two nationally recognized experts to evaluate and address deficiencies in the District’s special education literacy curriculum and discipline system. This settlement represents the first of its kind to address the unique literacy needs of disabled students who are also English learners.
Congratulations to Malhar and Claudia on this tremendous recognition and for your tireless work on behalf of our community.