Amplify Justice Liberation Project Presents
ALAB gives Louisiana parents the legal knowledge, ready-to-use documents, and community connections to fight for their children's education — and win.
Know Your Rights
Choose what's happening with your child and we'll show you exactly what the law says and what to do next.
What schools must do before, during, and after any suspension. Your appeal rights. What happens if they skip steps.
Read this first →🏫Charter schools are public schools. They must follow public records law, open meetings law, and budget transparency requirements.
Know your charter rights →📘Federal law gives children with disabilities significantly stronger protections. Most parents don't know the half of it.
Special ed rights →📁They have 3 business days. Your child's records: 10 business days. Surveillance footage: request it today.
Records rights →🚌More than a mile from school? Free transportation is required. Has an IEP? Door-to-door may be required too.
Transportation rights →🏠Doubled up, in a shelter, or in a motel? Your child can stay at their same school with transportation — no documents required to enroll.
Know your rights →👨👩👧Federal law requires schools to keep your child enrolled and stable through placement changes whenever possible.
Foster care rights →🚫Schools must investigate, document, and respond — and report incidents to the state. Know exactly what's required.
Bullying & discrimination rights →🗣️Board meetings must be open. PTAs have real legal standing. Here's how to make sure you're heard.
Parent involvement rights →🧠Louisiana delivers gifted services through an IEP — and a child can be both gifted and have a disability at the same time.
Gifted education rights →📋Eligibility, quality standards, and early screening for disabilities or giftedness — before kindergarten even starts.
Pre-K rights →📊What LEAP actually measures, required accommodations, and the real consequences of opting out.
Testing & accountability rights →🎨Schools can't charge fees as a condition of attending public school — and there's a required waiver process.
Sports, music & arts rights →💻Louisiana is rolling out a new computer science requirement now — here's the timeline and what equitable access actually means.
STEM & technology rights →🧬Real research on early childhood, adolescence, trauma, music, and movement — translated into plain language for advocacy.
Explore the brain science library →📚Community-submitted sports, music, summer programs, STEM opportunities, special needs services, and gifted enrichment — searchable by category.
Browse the directory →🎬Animated explainers, parent testimonials, school tours, and how-to videos for IEP meetings, McKinney-Vento, filing complaints, and more.
Watch the video library →📄Eight ready-to-use templates — public records requests, IEP meeting requests, suspension appeals, LDOE complaints, and more.
Get templates →⚖️Free legal clinics in New Orleans that handle education law. What to bring, what to say, and how to get the most from your visit.
Find legal help →Who We Are
Executive Director, Amplify Justice Liberation Collective · Educational Advocate · Author · Mother
Amplify Justice Liberation Collective is a nonprofit organization working at the intersection of education, justice, and community power in New Orleans and beyond. ALAB — Advocates Louisiana and Beyond — is one of its flagship projects.
Ashana Bigard is the author of Beyond Resilience: Katrina 20 and a leading educational advocate in New Orleans. As a mother of three children — two of whom have disabilities, and one who navigates both an IEP for disabilities and an IMP for gifted and talented services — she has lived the complexity of the New Orleans public school landscape from the inside.
ALAB is a free resource because parents without money still have children who deserve an education. Your donation funds content updates, legal review, community events, and outreach to the families who need this most.