[nfbmi-talk] doj cites another pwd sweatshop

[joe harcz Comcast]

Department of Justice finds Providence, RI put disabled students at risk. By Alisha A. Pina . PROVIDENCE, R. I. -- The federal Department of Justice has

ruled the city and state violated federal law, and the civil rights of disabled students at a Providence school, and one of the state's largest employment

programs for people with disabilities. The Harold A. Birch Vacational program at Mount Pleasant High School sent most of its graduates for about 25 years

to Training Through Placement Inc., of North Providence, which employed disabled adults for low-wage piecework for local companies. In reports obtained

by The Journal, the federal agency concluded that the state discriminated against the disabled by unnecessarily segregating them and worked them for long

hours at "extremely low wages. The federal agency concluded the city failed to provide its disabled students with services and programs "in the most integrated

setting appropriate to their needs," as mandated by federal law. The Birch currently has 85 students. I am outraged and saddened by the Department of Justice's

findings... Mayor Angel Taveras said in a statement Tuesday. Disabled students have a civil right to live productive and fulfilling lives. At the Birch

School we have failed the most vulnerable students among us. Taveras said the city shut down the program in April and removed its principal when he learned

of the investigation at the Birch School. We understand that there is an ongoing Department of Justice investigation regarding the program known as the

Birch Vocational High School, and the Department of Justice has instructed us not to discuss this matter at this time," said Rhode Island Department of

Education spokesman Elliot Kreiger. The justice officials also looked into the John E. Fogarty Center, in North Providence, and the Trudeau Center, in

Warwick. The findings are not yet available. -- With reports from Linda Borg and Lynn Arditi