The original suit, Y.S. v. School District of Philadelphia, was filed in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in December of 1985 on behalf of an estimated 8,000 Asian students and their parents.

An Interim Remedial Agreement was reached in 1988 and the District accepted that it needed to provide students and parents increased language services. A long-term plan was approved in 1989 that mandated numerous solutions including a welcome center for testing and placement of new students, new classroom instructional models and availability of interpreters for all parent communications, meetings and other school activities.

In the years that followed, the Education Law Center monitored the District’s programs only to find that significant strides were not being met. Bilingual staff were not being hired, LEP students were not receiving appropriate placements and only a few schools had strong language services programs in place.