North Carolina's Department of Public Instruction has ruled that Durham Public Schools failed to provide required special education services to students with disabilities detained at the Durham County Youth Home during a facility-wide lockdown from early February through March 2025.
DPI's final report, dated April 24, concluded that Youth Home officials refused DPS educators sufficient access to the 36-bed Broad Street facility during the lockdown, both in person and virtually. Students were confined to their rooms 22.5 to 24 hours per day. Four students with disabilities were present. Instead of the typical five to six hours of daily instruction, they received no more than 30 minutes at a time.
The lockdown, triggered by a reported threat of physical harm, suspended all programming except activities deemed essential for safety. A May 2025 letter from the Youth Home director confirmed the terms: only staff and contract employees could enter, residents moved through the facility one at a time.
DPI's order requires DPS to draft a plan, in consultation with Youth Home staff, for continuing special education services during any future lockdown or providing alternative services if access is restricted. The plan is due May 15.
No compensatory education was ordered for the four students who lost instruction time. The ACLU of North Carolina, which filed the complaint alongside Duke's Children's Law Clinic, believes education access remained limited even after the lockdown lifted in early April 2025. A Disability Rights NC report found instructional time at the facility dropped from five to six hours a day in 2024 to no more than an hour in 2025, and that conditions at the Youth Home changed little once the formal lockdown ended.
"Children should not bear the consequences of systemic failures," said Peggy Nicholson, supervising attorney at the Duke Children's Law Clinic.
The ACLU says it will continue pressing for the students who went without their legally required services.