The Youth Justice Education Clinic (YJEC) was originally conceived six years ago to serve the education advocacy needs of the Juvenile Justice Clinic, and that continues as one of our core missions, we are now taking community referrals from families and students who may benefit from our comprehensive education and disability advocacy. We currently have approximately 50 active clients, from 4 through 20 years old, many with multiple legal issues.
While much of our legal advocacy focuses on special education law (eligibility, placement, services, and compensatory services awards), we also have the expertise to provide advocacy, and regularly do so, in the following related areas: general education discipline, including suspensions, expulsions, and illegal non-voluntary transfers; school enrollment issues, usually based on illegal denial of enrollment due to homelessness, probation status, disability, and credit deficiency; Regional Center (eligibility, placement, and services) advocacy for the developmentally delayed; school based discrimination based on disability, race, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, homelessness, religion, and poverty; and, if necessary, federal and state court litigation for monetary damages based on civil rights violations and tortious conduct. Finally, it is not unusual, in the course of our work, to uncover school district (and other public entity) policies that do not comply with applicable laws. When faced with the clear illegality of their policies, the school district will change, district-wide, how they deal with all their students.
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