ACLU Lawsuit claims Privately Run Atlanta School Abuses Students

Humiliating' searches, violence,

failure to educate among accusations

A privately run Atlanta public school acts as a virtual prison that subjects students to routine body searches, leaves them unprotected against violence and fails to educate them, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by, the American Civil Liberties Union.

The lawsuit targets both the Atlanta Board of Education and Community Education Partners, the private company that has a contract to run the alternative school for middle and high school students who have been expelled from regular public schools.

The ACLU contends the school violates the United States and Georgia constitutions on a number of levels including failing to provide an adequate education. The lawsuit also claims the school subjects students to unreasonable body searches.

The lawsuit, filed on behalf of eight students, depicts the school as awash in violence, inflicted by students, faculty and police. The school documented 189 fights among its 415 students in 2006, according to the lawsuit. The school was responsible for nearly 68 percent of all the battery reports compiled by the 90 schools in the Atlanta Public School district.

"None of these reports reflects the violence inflicted upon students by teachers and administrators," the lawsuit said. "Teachers and at least one administrator routinely hit students, throw books and throw students against the walls or to the floor. Nor do these reports reflect the violence inflicted by school resource officers and police officers. Such officers are often physically aggressive and have a practice of using choke-holds on students."

Community Education Partners, based in Nashville, Tenn., could not be reached for comment...

This from the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.