Inquiry Clears Newhall Schools of Bias Charges

After a 6-month investigation, federal officials have cleared the Newhall Elementary School District of accusations that it discriminates against Latino students.

Investigators from the U. S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights in San Francisco found that the district is not in violation of civil rights laws pertaining to minority students, as alleged by a group of Latino parents and community activists, said Cydronia Valdez, a spokeswoman for the department.

The federal probe was in response to a complaint filed in May by William Smith, an attorney for the San Fernando Valley Neighborhood Legal Services, on behalf of parent Barbara Fernandez of Valencia and others.

In the complaint, the Latino parents maintained that Spanish-speaking students are not receiving educations equal to their Anglo classmates, an allegation school administrators emphatically denied.

Specifically, the parents alleged that Spanish-speaking students are promoted without receiving instruction appropriate to their grade levels, are inappropriately placed in federally funded special education and migrant education classes and are segregated from other children in kindergarten classes.

Valdez said that investigators found the district “clear of Hispanic prejudice” at present. She said federal investigators attempted to examine only present district policies.

The results of the federal investigation were included in a 10-page letter received Friday by school Supt. J. Michael McGrath, who said district officials regard the federal findings as “vindication. We are totally and absolutely in compliance with the law.”

The investigation was the latest chapter in an almost 4-year-old feud pitting school administrators against Latino community leaders, who have continued to maintain that the district is not adequately preparing Spanish-speaking students to live and work in an English-speaking society.

The controversy has included accusations that a principal was prejudiced and mistreated Latino students, numerous public arguments between parents and administrators, the filing of a lawsuit against the district by a teacher’s aide who sided with the Latino group and two state Department of Education investigations into charges lodged by Latinos against the district.

The Superior Court suit is pending.

Last year, consultants from the state Department of Education concluded that the district was in violation of several provisions of the state education code pertaining to bilingual education. After the probe, the district made some changes in its policies, primarily in the way it notifies parents of education opportunities available.

A second team of state investigators exonerated the district in May.

About 16% of the district’s more than 3,500 kindergarten through sixth-grade students are Latino. About 44% of the Latino students live in the attendance area of Newhall Elementary School.