U.S. to probe parents' complaints of bias in L. Merion schools

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights will investigate complaints from South Ardmore parents that a redistricting plan for Lower Merion's schools discriminates on the basis of race.

On Jan. 14, parents of public school students wrote to the department, alleging that a redistricting plan approved by the school district's board Jan. 12 was disproportionately burdensome to South Ardmore while sparing other communities.

Under the plan, South Ardmore, a predominantly minority community, has some children going to one high school and others to another.

The parents alleged in their complaints "that the plan's separation of the South Ardmore community into two different high schools is based on race."

Lower Merion High School in Ardmore and Harriton High in Rosemont are being redistricted as part of an expensive project to build two new high schools with equal enrollments.

Redistricting was needed because more of the township's families live near Lower Merion High School than near Harriton.

Schools spokesman Doug Young confirmed that the district received notification of the investigation yesterday.

"We intend to fully cooperate with their efforts," Young said of the civil-rights office. "The OCR has made it very clear that their action is procedural and in no way indicates any infraction on the part of the district.

"We are confident that once the OCR has a chance to review the documents they requested, they will determine that our redistricting plan was driven not by race, but our need to balance enrollment at the two high schools."

On Jan. 21, the Office for Civil Rights said it had received four complaints from South Ardmore alleging the redistricting plan was racist. It deliberated two months before deciding to investigate.

One of the South Ardmore residents said a letter she received dated Monday described the Office for Civil Rights as "a neutral factfinder collecting and analyzing relevant evidence from complainants and the district and other sources."

"Opening this allegation for investigation in no way implies that we have made a determination," the letter said.

The letter did not give a time frame for the investigation, the resident said.

The Office for Civil Rights enforces Title 6 of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which bars discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin by recipients of federal education dollars, the letter said.

All public schools receive federal funding from the department and are subject to its regulations.