School Boundary Decision Reversed
COSTA MESA — A school boundary change which discriminated against Latino children, according to federal authorities who threatened prosecution, was reversed Tuesday night by trustees of the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.
The unanimous vote “does not contain any admission†of wrongdoing by the board, said Spencer Covert, legal counsel for the district.
After a year-long investigation, authorities from the Office for Civil Rights of the U.S. Department of Education said the board’s decision to move children from a primarily Latino area of Costa Mesa from Adams Elementary School to Wilson Elementary was discriminatory.
The Office for Civil Rights ordered Newport-Mesa officials last week to reverse that decision or face federal prosecution.
Supt. Mac Bernd warned the board last May that changing the boundaries then could be perceived as discriminatory, since the 90 Latino children affected were moving to a school that was 88% Latino. Before the boundary changes, Adams was 51% Latino and 41% white.
Trustees have maintained their decision was not racially motivated. Rather, they have said that Adams soon may be overcrowded with just children from the Mesa Verde area. Continuing to bus in children from the Joann Street area, they said, would leave no room for children in the immediate neighborhood. The decision contradicted a study by district staff that showed there was room for 100 more students at Adams.
The federal investigation was prompted by a complaint to the Office for Civil Rights that the transfers were racially motivated and would create severe overcrowding at Wilson Elementary.
Trustee Martha Fluor said the federal decision would be a factor as the board opens hearings today on other proposed changes.
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