One of the plaintiffs is an 11-year-old student identified only as Katie T. When she completed fifth grade at La Salle, she was at the reading level of a student just starting third grade and was given no meaningful help, the lawsuit said.
State assessments found 96 percent of students at the school were not proficient in English or math, according to the lawsuit. Only eight of the school’s 179 students were found to be proficient when tested last year.
David Moch, another plaintiff, is a retired teacher who taught at La Salle for 18 years. Moch said he had fifth graders in his kindergarten class.
Teachers were not given training or help to deal with the situation and programs that did seem to make a dent were discontinued, Moch said.
“I chose to teach at La Salle because I wanted to help,” he said. “Every day I was there, I witnessed students’ lack of access to literacy.”
Madison has long tolerated disastrous readign results, despite spending far more than most, now nearly $20,000 per student.