Attorney: State of civic education in Rhode Island is a 'disaster'

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (WJAR) — It may have been the ultimate civics lesson: Dozens of young people poured into the federal courthouse in Providence to support their peers engaged in a class-action lawsuit.

The litigation, A.C. v. Raimondo, alleges the state is violating students' Constitutional right to an adequate civic education. The case is believed to be nearly unprecedented.

"Lots of young people, very nice," U.S. District Court Judge William E. Smith said, commenting on the turnout, which spilled into an overflow room. "This will be part of your civic education."

The lawsuit names Gov. Gina Raimondo, the Rhode Island Department of Education (RIDE), and other state leaders. In court Thursday, Assistant Attorney General Michael Field and RIDE legal counsel Anthony Cottone made their arguments to have the case dismissed.

The state's attorneys argued education is not a Constitutional right. To that argument, Smith asked if the state were to get rid of public education entirely, would that be a violation of rights?

Cottone called that hypothetic situation an "absolute denial" of rights, and the attorneys noted this "segment" of education is not protected by the Constitution.

Cottone called the issue a "matter of location concern," meaning the students should be taking their issues to local education agencies and not the state. He also took issue with "adding another unfunded mandate."

Lead attorney for the plaintiffs, Michael Rebell, said called the state of civics preparations in Rhode Island a "disaster."

"We're not going to ask for an order to micromanage the system," Rebell said. "We're asking them to make this more of a priority."

Rebell noted while North Kingstown has a "robust" civics program, other communities are failing, including Providence and Woonsocket.

Woonsocket had a civics elective until 2009, after the recession, Rebell said.

He said the plaintiffs have brought their concerns to the right place.

"The school boards are not the people making the policy. That's our point. What we're dealing with here is a state that has downgraded civic education," Rebell told NBC 10 News.

"They don't mandate civics courses as they do in other states, they don't teach media literacy, which was one of the points the judge was really emphasizing. They don't required teachers to get professional development in this area."

He continued, "For me, what’s most important is they don't hold school districts accountable for it. School districts are accountable for scores in math and English. They're not accountable for scores in civics."

The plaintiffs filed the lawsuit in Nov. 2018 with the Rhode Island Center for Justice and the Center for Educational Equity at Columbia University's Teachers College.

"We want the court to declare that all kids have a right to an education that prepares them to vote, to exercise their First Amendment Right, to be knowledgeable enough to be good citizens," Rebell said.

Aleita Cook is among the plaintiffs named in the case, A.C. v. Raimondo, though Center for Justice Executive Director Jennifer Wood said the lawsuit speaks for every student in Rhode Island.

"I don't know my three branches of government, I didn't learn that in school. I didn't learn my voting rights in school," Cook said, who graduated from Providence Career and Technical Academy last spring.

Symone Burrell, a 19-year-old CCRI student, told reporters she was deeply concerned about the state's arguments to dismiss the case on the grounds of Constitutional rights.

"It's kind of scary that people running our education think that way and firmly believe in that," Burrell said.

Meanwhile, other young people in attendance said simply watching the hearing take place was eye-opening.

"Every student in the country should have an experience like that," Met School junior and Providence Student Union Leadership Team Director Jayson Rodriguez said.

"It was an absolutely awesome experience," Robert Desilets. "First time ever in the courtroom."

After about an hour and a half of oral arguments, Smith told the court he will provide a written decision on the motion to dismiss, but did not provide a timeline. Rebell said with his workload, the decision could take several months.

"It's a complicated case. He realizes there’s a lot riding on this," Rebell said.

Raimondo has said she fully supports civics education.