Students Doe Seek Definitive Answers on Race in LMSD Redistricting Appeal

Plaintiffs in the redistricting lawsuit against Lower Merion School District are citing the 14th Amendment and Title 42 in their appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, filed Tuesday.

The 2009 redistricting plan sent students in some South Ardmore neighborhoods to  instead of the closer , thus increasing the number of African-American students enrolled at Harriton.

The U.S. Court of Appeals . U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson found that the school board used race as one of several motivating factors in their redistricting decisions, but did not break any laws, according to Philadelphia Inquirer reports of the earlier trial.

“After over half a century of litigation, the issue of race based decision-making has returned to this Honorable Court in the same context it was originally presented in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 (1954),” reads the argument filed Tuesday on behalf of "Students Doe" by attorney David G. C. Arnold. “In Brown, African American students sought relief from this Honorable Court because they were assigned to schools based upon their race. In the present case, Students Doe, African American students, confirmed in their belief that Brown is under attack in Lower Merion, but that Brown nevertheless remains both good and controlling law, once again ask this Honorable Court to determine whether school districts can use race as a factor when assigning students to school.

“LMSD has never operated a segregated school system. However, on January 12, 2009, LMSD adopted a school redistricting plan that assigned Students Doe to Harriton High School, a high school which had a small African American enrollment prior to redistricting, and removed their option to choose schools, like their peers in other neighborhoods, because they were African American.”

(See the full text of the petition in a PDF attached to this article.)

The filing also rehashes a few plans explored by Lower Merion School District prior to redistricting, claiming at least one of those was thrown out because of race.

The argument continues: “However, despite over a half century of Supreme Court litigation, the issue of whether a school district who was not operating a segregated school system, or who had never operated a segregated school system, could use race as a factor when assigning students to schools in order to build diverse student bodies has never been definitively decided."

In addition to the petition to the U.S. Supreme Court, , stating there is "overwhelming evidence from the trial record that racial considerations loomed large in the decision making" of the district.

Lower Merion School District did not release a statement Tuesday but instead referred back to its earlier statements made about the suit.

“This is yet another reaffirmation that the policy and practices adopted by the District were educationally and operationally appropriate, and Constitutional,” district spokesman Doug Young wrote in December after the appeals court ruled in the district's favor. “We firmly believe this ruling should be the final chapter in this dispute and sincerely hope that our resilient community can continue to work together on behalf of all our children.”