School district fights ruling on transfers

Jose Paul Corona

High school district trustees will petition the California Supreme

Court to retain a policy that an appellate court struck down as

unconstitutional.

In a closed session meeting last week, the Huntington Beach Union High

School District Board passed a motion to petition the court 4-1. Trustee

Matthew Harper cast the dissenting vote.

The decision comes after an appellate court ruled the district’s

policy of denying student transfers based on race to be unconstitutional

on May 31. In September of 1999 Fountain Valley resident Bruce Crawford

sued the school district for not allowing a student to transfer because

of his race.

The white student was denied a transfer from the Ocean View High

School, which is primarily Latino, to the mostly-white Fountain Valley

High School, based on his race.

The district had been denying the applications of white students who

wanted to transfer out of certain high schools in the district in order

to preserve what they said was ethnic balance. Administrators introduced

the policy in 1993 as a way to stave off segregation.

Larsen said the petition will be filed by July 10 and expects it will

take 60 to 90 days to be heard. If the court decides to hear the petition

it may take up to a year before a decision is rendered, Larsen added.

Meanwhile the school board has instructed Supt. Susan Roper to allow

any students on the waiting list to transfer.

“Pending the court’s determination, the district is going to comply

with the spirit of the appellate court’s decision,” Larsen said.

If the Supreme Court decides to hear the petition, that will vacate

the appellate court’s decision, but until then the district has to comply

with the ruling.

Roper was unavailable for comment, Tish Cook, superintendent of

business services for the district, refused to comment and referred all

inquiries to the school district’s attorney.

Board members were instructed by School Dist. Atty. Dave Larsen not to

comment.

The ruling surprised Larsen, he said, especially since the district

prevailed when the case was originally tried.

“I think that the appellate court decision was a significant departure

from past precedent,” Larsen said.

That decision will impact school district’s throughout the state,

which is one of the reasons that the district has decided to petition.

“The district felt it was very important to have a definitive

decision,” Larsen said.

Sharon L. Browne, lead counsel and principal attorney for the Pacific

Legal Foundation, the firm representing Crawford, said she did not expect

the district to file the petition.

“The policy was found to be unconstitutional, their decision was very

straightforward and clear,” Browne said.

Crawford expected no less.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” Crawford said, “Nothing they do makes

sense.”

The appellate court’s decision was unanimous and the policy was also

found to be in violation of Proposition 209. The ballot initiative banned

discrimination or preferential treatmentto anyone who attends a public

school based on race or ethnicity.

“The precedents are against them,” Crawford said.