NEW ORLEANS — The New Orleans Archdiocese said it has changed questionnaires on Catholic School applications to remove questions about prospective students' disabilities.
This comes after a WWL-TV investigation looked at claims in a class-action lawsuit in August alleging that Catholic schools discriminated against prospective students with physical and learning disabilities. The lawsuit specifically alleged that the Archdiocese was violating state anti-discrimination laws by asking questions on student applications designed to illicit information about disabilities.
Lawsuits filed against Catholic schools allege they discourage prospective students from applying if they have disabilities and refuse to accommodate otherwise qualified students with spina bifida, cerebral palsy, dyslexia and other disabilities that might require wheelchair access or the use of learning aids in the classroom.
Attorney Christopher Edmunds asked the Archdiocese to remove questions about disabilities from application questionnaires late last year, but the church’s general counsel responded that the schools did not use the information to discriminate. Edmunds then filed a class-action lawsuit in state court on behalf of families with disabled children, asking the court to order the church to remove the allegedly discriminatory questions, provide staff with anti-discrimination training and to pay legal fees.
The Archdiocese sought to stop the lawsuit and move it under its federal bankruptcy case. On Wednesday, the church filed a motion in court arguing the lawsuit is, “moot,” because, “the Archdiocese has eliminated the allegedly discriminatory admissions questions from the archdiocesan school applications.”
The Archdiocese says it doesn’t discriminate against children. A spokesman said the Archdiocese decided to remove the questions about students' disabilities from school applications, "In the spirit of furthering the opportunity for Catholic education for children within the archdiocese."
“We continue to evaluate processes to ensure our schools remain consistent in the mission of Catholic education to be inclusive of all qualified students,” spokesman Bill Kearney said. “The Archdiocese recognizes and commends the efforts of our school leaders and Catholic educators to realize that mission.”
Edmunds said he still wants a court order to make sure the questions are removed from all Catholic school applications, not just schools under direct control of the Archdiocese.
“If they have, in fact, removed certain questions that ask about prospective students' disabilities, I find that very encouraging,” Edmunds said. “But I have no way to verify that. And there's no way to enforce them to start to do that in the future without a court order.”
Edmunds says the disability discrimination lawsuit belongs back in state court and has nothing to do with the bankruptcy. But the church says it does because it asks the church to pay legal fees while it’s seeking bankruptcy protection against creditors.
There's a hearing on that question set for next week.