School district prepares for court battle

Andrew Wainer

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- When the Huntington Beach Union High School District

Board of Trustees amended its controversial, ethnically balanced

enrollment policy last year, some thought the issue was put to rest. Not

Bruce Crawford.

Crawford, a conservative local activist, has filed suit against the

district, alleging violations of Proposition 209. The Sacramento-based

Pacific Legal Foundation has taken up his case. Both sides are now

engaged in pretrial motions.

Crawford said the district continues to deny students the school of their

choice through its policy of avoiding “racial isolation.”

The policy denies white students the ability to transfer out of high

schools where the white student population is more than 15% below the

districtwide white student percentage. Likewise, in such cases, nonwhite

students are not allowed to transfer in, he said.

White students now make up about half of the district’s student

population.

Crawford said such a policy is a violation of Proposition 209, which

states the government “shall not discriminate against ... any individual

or group on the basis of race, sex, color or ethnicity.”

Meanwhile, district officials said the policy is simply complying with

state antisegregation legislation and, therefore, has called in the state

Board of Education as a co-defendant.

Court commissioner Sheila Fell is expected to decide soon on the

district’s motion to include the Board of Education in the trial.

“The district has a policy designed to comply with the state

Constitution,” said Dave Larson, an attorney for the district. “The

plaintiffs are challenging the constitutionalityof state law.”

But Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Zack Morazzini said the district’s

and state’s definitions of segregation are like apples and oranges.

“None of the district’s schools have been found to be segregated

according to the Constitution,” Morazzini said. “The California Supreme

Court has rejected their [the district’s] definition of segregation.”

Morazzini said there is a list of characteristics that make a school

legally segregated, but none of the district’s schools fall into this

category.

Crawford stressed the ethical basis of his case and said he is seeking a

change in district policy, not money.

“It’s not fair,” he said. “Students should be allowed to go to the school

they chose.”

The district’s enrollment policy came under fire last year when it denied

52 white Ocean View High School students the right to transfer to the

school of their choice, saying it would upset Ocean View’s ethnic

balance.

The district’s previous policy said a school’s ethnic makeup should match

that of the district.

In May, after parent protest, the district amended its policy, giving the

schools the leeway to stay within 15% of the districtwide white student

percentage.

The ruling allowed the students to transfer but left some parents and

board member Matthew Harper unsatisfied.

Harper has advocated abolishing the district’s racial quotas altogether.

QUESTION

FAIR POLICY?

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