Plaintiffs’ appeal in Lawrence Public Schools case to be heard May 24

An appeal in the case of five District 15 parents whose civil rights lawsuit against the Board of Education had been thrown out by a federal judge last August will be heard in the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals this Monday. Oral arguments are scheduled for 10 a.m. on May 24 before a three-judge panel at the Daniel Patrick Moynihan Courthouse in Manhattan.

The suit filed by Tara Incantalupo, Andrew Levey, Stacey Sullivan, Flora Chen and Steve Jackson claimed that the decision to close the Number Six School in Woodmere violated their First and Fourteenth Amendment rights, and that the school board was pushing an Orthodox agenda over public-school concerns. On Aug. 24, U.S. District Court Judge Joanna Seybert dismissed the parents' lawsuit, saying, “Nothing the plaintiffs have pled remotely resembles any violations of the First or Fourteenth Amendments, except, ironically, for plaintiffs’ requested relief, which itself violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments.”

The plaintiffs’ attorney, Rick Ostrove of the New York City law firm Leeds, Morelli & Brown, said he is hopeful that the 2nd Circuit will look at the lawsuit differently than Judge Seybert. "We think the legal precedent is clearly on our side," said Ostrove.

Al D'Agostino, an attorney for the school board, said he is cautiously optimistic the 2nd Circuit will uphold Judge Seybert's ruling. "The district court judge made her feelings quite clear," said D'Agostino.

In addition to the appeal of Judge Seybert's decision, the plaintiffs are also fighting a related case against the school board. The board is seeking to have the parents recoup legal fees the district spent to defend itself in the dismissed civil-rights lawsuit.

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