A state judge has issued an injunction against the Archdiocese of New Orleans to stop eight area Catholic schools from asking prospective students questions about whether they have physical or mental limitations.
Orleans Parish Civil District Judge Ellen Hazeur said in an Oct. 25 order that the schools must stop asking such questions during the admissions process until a class-action lawsuit filed by attorney Chris Edmunds is resolved.
Edmunds’ lawsuit, which was filed on behalf of disabled students, alleges that the questions discriminate against people with physical or mental challenges. A Louisiana law bars schools from asking such questions that attempt to elicit information about student disabilities on admissions applications, according to the law firm.
Catholic schools in the state have violated the state’s nondiscrimination policies that apply to school campuses, real estate transactions and state-funded programs, the Edmunds Law Office reports. The purpose of the questions is to deny school access to students with disabilities, according to the law firm.
The law firm cites questions that have been asked at Archbishop Shaw High School in Marrero, such as “Please list any pre-existing medical conditions (allergies, diseases, physical or mental disorders, etc.)” and “Please list any learning disabilities.”
Edmunds said that Hazeur’s ruling will likely benefit several thousand prospective Catholic school students with disabilities.
“We are extremely pleased with Judge Hazeur's ruling,” Edmunds said in a statement emailed to the Louisiana Record. “After carefully considering the evidence, she issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the archdiocese from asking prospective students about their disabilities, whether orally or in writing.”
The archdiocese has a history of using disability-related questions to weed out students applying for admission to archdiocese-run schools, in violation of state statutes, he said.
“Our suit seeks to put a stop to this conduct, so that all students may receive equal consideration at the admissions stage,” Edmunds said.
The state lawsuit follows the 2020 filing of a federal lawsuit by Edmunds in a federal court in Louisiana on behalf of a student identified only as E.R.. At that time, the student, a 13-year-old with cerebral palsy, sued Cabrini High School, an all-girls Catholic campus, after the school denied her request to attend the school. She has required an aide to help her in her daily activities and deal with her mobility issues.
That lawsuit, filed in the Eastern District of Louisiana, argued that the school’s treatment of E.R. was a violation of the federal Americans With Disabilities Act. That lawsuit was dismissed in 2021 after the parties agreed to a settlement.
The state litigation argues that the archdiocese’s admissions policies violated the Louisiana Human Rights Act and the Civil Rights Act for Persons with Disabilities. The laws apply to the Catholic schools in question because the archdiocese receives millions of dollars in state education funding, according to the lawsuit.
A trial date has not been set in the state lawsuit.
Edmunds specializes in disability law and appeals. He has a son who suffers from a rare genetic condition that causes multiple physical and cognitive disabilities, according to the law firm.