Court orders TUSD to restore long-term suspension program

TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - A federal court has now ordered Tucson Unified School District to restore DAEP, the District Alternative Education Program.

This dispute between TUSD and the plaintiffs in the more than 40 year old desegregation case has been going on since the start of the year.

DAEP is a voluntary alternative to long-term suspension.

The plaintiffs told the court the district tried to tackle severe district-wide staffing shortages by combining middle and high school students into one DAEP class, offering abeyance contracts rather than DAEP, and reducing staff in the DAEP program.

They argued those issues threatened the rights of at-risk students.

The federal court ruled the district can’t do that and the program must return to it’s pre-pandemic state until the district prepares an analysis for DAEP changes.

TUSD has maintained throughout that it didn’t change the program.

Here’s TUSD’s response to this latest court order.

“The Tucson Unified School District would like to emphasize the following regarding the March 24th order from the Honorable Judge David C. Bury:
First, as it has done throughout this case, the district will comply fully and unconditionally with this order and will work expeditiously do to so. Secondly, the 4th page of the order exonerates the district from the inaccurate and unsubstantiated charges and allegations that it “terminated” or was attempting to “terminate” the DAEP program. Next, the 5th page of the order acknowledges and agrees that the change in DAEP operations was brought on by the COVID 19 pandemic, consistent with what the district administration communicated to the public at the time of its recommended change. Finally, the court has ordered the district to facilitate a “Performance Impact Analysis” as the district is seeking to potentially continue this change into the 22-23 school. As mentioned in the order, the “Performance Impact Analysis” is necessary to identify any potential effects the continued change may have on DAEP program effectiveness.”

Copyright 2022 KOLD News 13. All rights reserved.