School board accepts defeat

Coral Wilson

Bruce Crawford’s life hasn’t changed much in the past four years,

but he has changed the lives of countless students by helping abolish

the high school district’s policy of denying student transfers based

on race.

In September, the California Supreme Court denied the Huntington

Beach Union High School District’s appeal of a ruling that declared

its policy unconstitutional.

At its Jan. 14 meeting, the school board finalized the decision to

change the school policy, a necessary formality.

So ends a four-year battle that began in 1999 when Crawford, a

Fountain Valley resident, sued the district for not allowing students

to transfer based solely on racial considerations.

When Proposition 209 was passed in 1996, stating that “the state

shall not discriminate against, or grant preferential treatment to

any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity

or national origin in the operation of public employment, public

education or public contracting,” it nullified all contradictory laws

that had passed previously.

Even so, Westminster and Ocean View high schools continued to

follow an earlier section of the educational code allowing the

schools to deny transfer requests on the basis of race to maintain

ethnic balance.

In most cases, white students were denied their requests to

transfer out of the schools to prevent segregation.

“They were trying to solve a problem that didn’t exist,” Crawford

said. “Segregation involves force.”

But there was no force, he said. Students were requesting to

transfer.

“That’s what was so ridiculous. They were acting as if white

students were a precious commodity to be saved,” said board member

Michael Harper, who cast the only dissenting vote in the board’s

decision to retain the racial quota policy in 1999.

“Governments do unconstitutional things all the time and don’t

change unless they are forced to or taken to court,” Harper said,

adding that just because a government body does something, that does

not mean it is legal.

“They were doing this out of good intentions, but they were

misplaced good intentions,” said Sharon Browne, principal attorney

for the Pacific Legal Foundation which represented Crawford.

When the board refused to listen to parents’ complaints about the

outdated policy in the late 1990s, Crawford took on the case as a

matter of principle.

“Part of what motivated me was their arrogance,” he said. “They

didn’t care what we thought or what the Constitution said.”

Crawford said his personal life will not be affected by the

decision, but he has been receiving thank you letters from parents

and students who can transfer freely as a result of his effort.

Already, two other major California school districts have

rescinded policies allowing decisions to be made based on race as a

direct result of the Crawford case, Browne said.

Harper said the decision will have city and statewide

implications. Because of this case, it will be clear to everyone what

Proposition 209 allows and what it prohibits.

* CORAL WILSON is a news assistant who covers education. She can

be reached at (714) 965-7177 or by e-mail at

coral.wilson@latimes.com.