[ Ссылка ] More than a dozen Lebanon-area, Pa., parents spoke out Jan. 20, 2011, during a news conference organized by the Public Interest Law Center of Philadelphia and the NAACP at the New Birth Church in Lebanon. The organizations also filed a federal lawsuit against the Lebanon School District, claiming the district's truancy policies are abusive, excessive and punitive, and they don't help keep children in school. According to the lawsuit, the district imposed 8,000 fines totaling $1.3 million in the past six years, nearly $500,000 in the 2008-09 school year alone. Superintendent Marianne Bartley has denied any wrongdoing by the district and referred calls to a lawyer on Thursday. The lawyer, Rebecca Young, said that some of the law center's information in its public statements is inaccurate but that she had not seen a copy of the lawsuit and could not comment.
