Federal judge dismisses bias suit against Lower Merion district

A federal judge has dismissed a civil rights lawsuit by some Lower Merion School District parents, students, and former students who claimed the district discriminated against them and other African American students by disproportionately and inappropriately placing them in special-education programs and in the lowest-level classes.

The ruling in Amber Blunt et al v. Lower Merion School District et al was handed down Thursday by U.S. District Judge Harvey Bartle 3d, who wrote that there was "no direct or circumstantial evidence of racial discrimination." The plaintiffs, Bartle added, "simply have not put forth any evidence that supports their contention that they were 'segregated' intentionally into inferior educational programs."

Lower Merion Superintendent Christopher McGinley said in a letter to the staff after the decision: "I am hopeful that this ruling will enable all parties to continue moving forward in a positive spirit of partnership and open dialogue as we work to close student-achievement gaps." The litigation, he said, "has been divisive, distracting, and costly for everyone involved in this case."

Carl Hittinger, an attorney for the plaintiffs, said Friday that the lawyers and plaintiffs would go over the ruling next week and decide whether to appeal, which he said "we may very well do."

Hittinger declined to comment on the substance of the ruling, saying the attorneys and clients would "reserve comments and opinion for our briefs." He said he had asked the plaintiffs not to comment until they decided on the next step.

The case began in 2007 with a lawsuit by five African American students, their parents, the Main Line branch of the NAACP, and a group called Concerned Black Parents Inc. The plaintiffs later filed for class-action status on behalf of other African American students who they said had suffered similar treatment.

Bartle denied class-action certification in 2009 and dismissed the participation of the two organizations. The original plaintiffs, with some additions, went forward with their claim that staff in the district showed racial bias toward African American students and put them in inappropriate placements that denied them the full scope of a good education in the district.

The district argued that the students' placements were appropriate or, if not, had not been the result of racial bias. And it said the plaintiffs had not showed that similarly situated white students had been treated differently.

Hittinger, the lawyer for the plaintiffs, said several individual plaintiffs still have pending federal claims concerning their treatment by the district.