10-03-2025
Public schools can't expel a family as 'not a good fit.' Why can private schools?
I have been an attorney representing public schools in Texas for over 40 years. Here's a basic rule for public school administrators: You don't punish the student for something the parents did.
Private schools don't have to play by that rule, however. They can simply declare that the family is 'not a good fit' for the school. Let me tell you the story of three kids who were expelled from a Catholic school in St. Louis, Missouri.
One of the students had attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, or ADHD, and reduced vision. The parents and school had agreed on a set of accommodations, called a learning plan, to help her.
According to the parents, everything went well at Our Lady of Lourdes until the elementary school got a new principal. The parents allege that the new principal was not requiring the teachers to provide the accommodations in the learning plan.
The parents met with the principal and Father Jim Theby, the pastor, to discuss the situation. In their lawsuit, the parents allege that Theby read the emails the mother had sent to the principal, became visibly upset and said 'he did not think Lourdes was a good fit for any of the family's children.'
'(The dad) defended his wife's emails and noted that the only change since the list of accommodations was developed was the change in principal,' the family's lawsuit said. 'In response, the principal smiled and said she was not going anywhere. (The dad) stated that 'we will see about that.''
Theby viewed that as a threat to the principal. According to the lawsuit, he told the parents that 'their family, including their three children, was no longer welcome at the Lourdes School and that they should leave immediately.' No notice. No hearing. No due process.
A public school is required by law to have a written Student Code of Conduct that lays out the reasons students may be disciplined. I can guarantee you that no public school in Texas has a Code of Conduct that would allow a student to be suspended or expelled because the family was 'not a good fit' for the school.
If the parent of a public school student threatened a school employee, the school might impose restrictions or bring in law enforcement. But it would not expel the student.
Things are different in the private sector.
The parents sued the parish school and took their case to the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, alleging that the school did not comply with Section 504 of the 1973 Rehabilitation Act, a federal law that requires non-discrimination based on disability in entities that receive federal financial assistance.
But the 8th Circuit dismissed the case in January. The court held that the expulsion had nothing to do with the school's compliance with Section 504. It was based on things the parents did: the mother's emails and the father's 'threat.' Theby's declaration that 'you are not a good fit' for Our Lady of Lourdes was a sufficient reason for the expulsion of three children.
Such a reason would never fly in a public school.
Our state is on the verge of sending tax dollars to private schools that can do things like this and get away with it. I hope our legislators will think about that. Wouldn't it be wise to at least attach some conditions to that money?
I'm not opposed to private schooling. I attended Catholic schools for 13 years and am grateful for the great education I got. I was pleased to serve on the advisory board of a Catholic school in Austin for several years. I know that private schools, as a general rule, have Codes of Conduct and apply basic standards of fairness.
But in the public schools, these standards are built into the law. Public schools are held accountable for abiding by those standards. Shouldn't all schools that we fund with our tax dollars be accountable?
Jim Walsh is co-author of The Educator's Guide to Texas School Law.
This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: School lawsuit raises questions as Texas ponders vouchers | Opinion
