TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WTXL) — Several advocacy groups are suing a Florida school district over its practice of making hundreds of students undergo mental health examinations at psychiatric facilities each year.
The federal lawsuit filed Tuesday on behalf of disabled and minority children calls Palm Beach County’s public school district’s policy “excessive and illegal.”
The groups claim the school district has deprived hundreds of children of educational opportunities and inflicted unnecessary trauma by forcing them into mental health centers over non-threatening behavioral incidents.
The lawsuit claims school officials violated state and federal law by involuntarily committing students in situations where the law doesn’t apply.
