In the latest salvo in a longstanding effort to enforce a California education law that requires physical education classes for all students, six health advocacy organizations filed a federal complaint Thursday charging that California public schools discriminate against Latino and African-American students by disproportionately denying them access to the classes, in violation of federal civil rights law.
“Black and Hispanic students are systematically denied quality physical education,” according to the complaint sent to Catherine Lhamon, assistant secretary for civil rights at the U.S. Department of Education. The complaint was filed by the The City Project, the California Center for Public Health Advocacy, the California Association for Health, Physical Education, Recreation and Dance, the Prevention Institute, the Latino Coalition for a Healthy California and the Anahuak Youth Sports Association.
