L. Merion official acknowledges race factored in plan

Lower Merion's top school official on Thursday acknowledged instances in which racial factors figured in the sifting and ultimate selection of a controversial redistricting plan.

In a soft, controlled voice in U.S. District Court in Philadelphia, Superintendent Christopher McGinley responded to questions from the lawyer for nine South Ardmore schoolchildren and their parents.

They sued in May, alleging that racial bias led the Lower Merion School District to target children in their predominantly African American neighborhood for forced busing to Harriton High School, five miles away in Rosemont.

Before the redistricting took effect this school year, parents could choose to send their children to nearby Lower Merion High School, but they lost that right under the plan.

In preparation for opening new buildings at the district's two high schools, the school board adopted a plan in January 2009 that would establish equal enrollments at Harriton and Lower Merion in several years. Students in South Ardmore, Penn Valley, and Narberth must attend Harriton and take a school bus to get there. The plan affected 44 pupils this year.

In opening arguments Thursday, plaintiffs' attorney David G.C. Arnold said he would show that school officials had improperly used race in reaching and adopting the plan.

Judith E. Harris, counsel for the schools, countered that race "had no effect on the school board that voted in the plan."

Arnold asked McGinley about a series of meetings in 2008 in which school officials considered six redistricting scenarios. In noting that two of those plans were rejected because they funneled too many black students to Harriton and too few to Lower Merion High, Arnold asked McGinley about racial statistics used in evaluating each plan.

"So race played a part in eliminating one-quarter of the scenarios?" Arnold asked.

"Yes," McGinley said.

That contradicted earlier testimony in which McGinley said, "No," when asked: "Did you ever get rid of a scenario because of a racial profile?"

McGinley testified that the state required the district to gather figures about ethnicity. He said administrators intended the numbers to be used after the plan was implemented, not before, to focus on the needs of minority students.

Seven parents told the court earlier why they had joined the legal action. "I need to lead by example," one woman said. "As a parent, you need to teach your child to stand up for yourself."

Judge Michael M. Baylson allowed the parents in the suit not to divulge their names so their children would not be identified. Eight of their children attend middle and elementary school. The ninth goes to Harriton.

In her opening remarks, Harris argued that when race was mentioned, it was intended to make minority students more comfortable at school.

"There are differences in school students, all kinds of differences," Harris said.

She said it was important for the district to "meet these students where they are and make sure they have an equal kind of experience."

The district said that by targeting South Ardmore, Narberth, and Penn Valley for forced busing to Harriton, the plan disrupted the fewest families and that geography dictated the boundaries of the plan.

But the South Ardmore students said they were being singled out for unequal treatment based on race, and on May 14 they filed a federal discrimination complaint. Testimony resumes Friday.