NEW ORLEANS — Known for its academics and religious setting, Mount Carmel Academy, an all-girls Catholic School in Lakeview, is at the center of an 11-page discrimination lawsuit.
“This is just good old-fashioned disparate treatment discrimination,” said attorney Chris Edmunds, who filed the suit.
That lawsuit describes his client as a 13-year-old girl with cerebral palsy who uses a wheelchair. Edmunds says the current seventh grader wants to attend the same Catholic School as her mother, which is Mount Carmel Academy.
According to the lawsuit, after the girl’s mom registered for an open house at Mount Carmel, an 8th-12th school, she called to inform the administration about her daughter’s wheelchair and need for an aide if admitted. Later that day, she got a voicemail.
“I do want to tell you that we do not have the capabilities of accepting your child. She just is precious. One day perhaps I will meet her. However, we don’t have the accommodations, and I do think our academic program would be substantially difficult for her,” said the woman on the voicemail.
The woman who left the voicemail identifies herself as Sister Camille Anne, who according to the lawsuit is the president of the school. The school’s website lists its president as Sister Camille Anne Campbell.
“Mount Carmel today is not the Mount Carmel you and I were in, in 1989. Just the number of buildings we have, the number of floors in the buildings, so many things have changed and I’m very sad to have to say this to you, but I do believe it’s best for the child,” continued the woman on the voicemail.
“Basically, what she’s saying is that we at Mt. Carmel will not take a child in a wheelchair,” Edmunds said.
Edmunds says that’s unacceptable, especially knowing nothing about the student.
“I think that they just assumed, well she has cerebral palsy and she’s in a wheelchair, she’s just not going to be able to keep up at our academic program and that’s just ridiculous and it’s offensive,” said Edmunds.
Currently being homeschooled, grades from the 13-year-old’s previous private school show mostly A’s and B’s the last two academic years. Falling under the umbrella of the Archdiocese of New Orleans, Edmunds says Mt. Carmel Academy is exempt from complying with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The school’s website even states the school does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed, national or ethnic origin. There’s no mention of disability.
“Just because you’re exempt under the law doesn’t mean that you don’t have a moral responsibility,” Edmunds said.
Mom and daughter aren’t identified in the lawsuit because Edmunds says they’re applying to other schools. The lawsuit requests a jury trial, unspecified damages and that Mount Carmel Academy undergo training when it comes to people with disabilities. Edmunds says there’s a bigger picture as well.
“My client and her mother want to pave the way for other children at Catholic schools in the New Orleans area,” said Edmunds.
WWL reached out to Mount Carmel Academy several times over the past couple of weeks for their response to the lawsuit and the claim of discrimination. While WWL has spoken with school representatives about our request, they’ve yet to give us a response.
Read the full lawsuit below:
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