The District has failed to properly educate students with disabilities in the D.C. Jail during the coronavirus pandemic, lawyers for the students say.

Since public schools in Washington shut down in March, the students have completed worksheets instead of attending class, going weeks without new assignments. As learning moved online, they were not given laptops. They could not reach teachers, virtually or in-person, according to a letter sent Thursday to D.C. Public Schools and the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, which are responsible for educating the students.

In the letter, the lawyers accused the city of violating federal law by not providing specialized services to the students. They say they will take legal action if the quality of education does not improve for the 2020-2021 school year.

“We’re not asking for anything extra but just the basic requirements under the law and for these students to be treated with respect,” said Maggie Hart, an attorney with the Washington Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs.

State Superintendent of Education Hanseul Kang said she is conducting a thorough review of the allegations.

“Providing a quality education for all D.C. students, particularly our students with disabilities, is a core priority for the Office of the State Superintendent of Education,” Kang said in a statement. “We take the issues raised in this letter very seriously.”

D.C. Public Schools, which educates more than 51,000 students, shuttered schools on March 16 to combat the spread of the coronavirus. Students will start the current school year with distance learning. Educators and parents across the country worry the time away from classrooms will deepen existing inequities, including for special education students.

In the letter, the lawyers alleged the city school system stopped providing special education services “to perhaps the most vulnerable student population” during the pandemic.

Seventeen students are enrolled in special education services at the Inspiring Youth Program, an alternative school that operates in the D.C. Jail.  A total of 48 students are housed at the Youth Services Center, a residential facility for incarcerated youth run by the Department of Youth Rehabilitation Services, but it’s unclear how many of them have a disability.

The letter was sent by several legal organizations, including the Georgetown Juvenile Justice Initiative, School Justice Project, and Advocates for Justice and Education, Inc.

Under the federal Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), students with disabilities are entitled to specialized instruction and services. Those services are spelled out in students’ Individual Education Plan, or IEP. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in April that school systems must continue to comply with federal special education law during the public health emergency.

Since March, the legal groups said D.C. schools have failed to provide specialized instruction and services in students’ IEPs, such as speech-language therapy and behavioral therapy.

They demanded the public school system provide those services and daily in-person or virtual instruction for students in the upcoming school year.

Last school year, students at the Youth Services Center received laptops for virtual instruction that did not work properly, according to the letter. Students in the Inspiring Youth Program did not receive any devices.

“The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed a broken education program that fails to provide for the individual needs of detained students,” the letter said. “As of today, these youth are simply being warehoused.”