Broadway High School Class Action Settlement 

Please carefully read this entire page for information about the settlement agreement and your rights under it.

Background

Broadway High School is an alternative school within the Minneapolis public school district. Students at Broadway were all pregnant or parenting teen mothers. During the 2008-09 through 2010-11 school years, Broadway regularly assigned unlicensed persons to instruct classes in violation of state law. Additionally, Broadway regularly assigned teachers to instruct classes beyond the scope of their licensure, also in violation of state law. Classes taught by unlicensed or underlicensed persons included both life skills classes (e.g., parenting and culinary arts) as well as core academic classes (e.g., math and social studies).

The Broadway students thought that credits earned in those classes would count towards graduation. But, in fact, when school district officials learned about the unlicensed and underlicensed instruction at Broadway, they told the students that credits earned in core classes taught by unlicensed individuals or otherwise unqualified individuals would be reallocated as elective credits. That decision rendered those credits essentially worthless.

Former Broadway students Angel Foreman, Genny Pongsak, and Deneazra Burns sued the school district on behalf of themselves and all others affected by Broadway’s unlawful conduct.

• Complaint

Settlement 

Almost three years after learning about Broadway’s unlawful conduct–and a year after my firm started a lawsuit on their behalf–Ms. Foreman, Ms. Burns, and Ms. Pongsak vindicated the Broadway students’ rights when the Minneapolis School District agreed to settle their class action claims for an amount equal to $409,934. As part of the settlement the District agreed to pay my firm’s fees on top of this amount, which means that not one cent of the settlement amount will go towards attorney fees.

On December 13, 2013, the Honorable Laurie J. Miller of the Hennepin County District Court entered an Order approving a Class Action Settlement Agreement between the Minneapolis Public School District and certain students who attended Broadway High School in Minneapolis during the 2008-2009, 2009-2010, and 2010-2011 school years.

• Order approving Class Action Settlement Agreement

• Settlement Agreement

Your Rights Under the Settlement Agreement

If you attended Broadway during the 2008-09, 2009-10, or 2010-11 school years you may be eligible for a portion of the settlement funds. The amount you are eligible to receive depends on how many credits you earned in courses taught by unlicensed and underlicensed teachers. To determine your eligibility, you must complete and return the initial claim form to the school district. You can access the claim form by clicking on the link below.

Please note that you must print a copy of the initial claim form, complete it, and return it to the address listed at the top of the form.

Finally, whether or not you choose to collect the award the settlement agreement entitles you to will not affect any credits you were awarded, your diploma, your GED, or anything else you earned or are in the process of earning in connection with your education.

• Initial claim form

Articles

• Minneapolis teen moms win settlement over unlicensed teachers