COMPTON, Calif. – A recently filed lawsuit in the Compton school district contends students who have experienced violence or trauma suffer from a disability and deserve special accommodations and services.

The class-action lawsuit was filed against the Compton Unified School District by three teachers and five teenage students who were transferred or expelled from the district for discipline issues, the Associated Press reports.

It centers on research that allegedly shows students who have suffered serious trauma, such as the violent death of a family member or homelessness, are much more likely to have attendance and discipline problems in school, and to struggle academically.

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“If you really want to do something about the achievement gap, childhood trauma is the place to start,” Mark Rosenbaum, one of the attorneys representing students in the lawsuit, told the Los Angeles Times.

Students and teachers are suing the district in an effort to force officials to train staff on recognizing trauma in students, to provide them with mental health support, and to focus on “reconciliation and healing” rather than suspension or expulsion for disciplinary issues, according to the news site.

The lawsuit details several students who have allegedly fallen through the cracks in Compton, including one male student who was a victim of sexual abuse and lived with a drug-addicted mother.

“He was later placed in foster care but was kicked out of his home and began sleeping on the high school roof until he was discovered by school officials, who did not provide him with help, the lawsuit alleges,” according to the Times.

That student struggles with anger issues, the AP reports.

“My anger is not normal,” the student is quoted in the lawsuit. “Sometimes I believe my aura is wicked. Sometimes I believe I have a demon in me.”

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Other students in the lawsuit witnessed fatal shootings, and one was traumatized by her teacher, who allegedly told the girl her bisexuality is “wrong,” the Times reports.

Plaintiff attorney Rosenbaum, who works for the pro-bono law firm Public Counsel, said the increased cost to the Compton school district to provide services for troubled teens would be offset by increased per-pupil state funding from better student attendance.

District officials hadn’t reviewed the lawsuit when contacted by the Times, but superintendent Darin Brawley said Compton Unified takes “very seriously all allegations regarding the quality of education of our students,” the Times reports.

Marleen Wong, associate dean at the USC School of Social Work, told the news site she’s witnessed intervention programs work wonders with traumatized students in Los Angeles schools.

She pointed to one student in particular, a Guatemalan refugee, who witnessed rebels kill villagers in his home country, and gang members go after his friends in Los Angeles, the Times reports.

He had issues with insomnia and anger, and suffered flashbacks, as a result of the trauma, but after a 10-session counseling program with Wong, he was much better.

“He went through the program and did very well,” she told the Times. “He was able to go back to school, calmed down, had fewer fights and better attendance.”

Wong said none of California’s four-year teacher training programs offer a class on identifying trauma in students, and believes it’s “really the civil rights issue of our time for our children and their futures,” she told the Times.