Civil rights group to problem lawsuit over admissions coverage at Boston examination faculties

“As parents, we want our children to have a fair opportunity to secure admission to the exam schools and take advantage of the unmatched educational opportunities these schools offer,” said Bentao Cui, president of the coalition, in a statement. “We are not taking the decision to file this lawsuit lightly, but we felt we had no other alternative to protect our children’s right to be free from racial and ethnic discrimination by the government.”

A hearing to consider an emergency application to prevent the city’s school system from using students’ postcodes in making selections is scheduled for Wednesday morning.

On Saturday, civil rights attorneys said they would try to challenge the lawsuit that accuses the city of “the long-running, merit-based citywide competition” for admission to the three schools – the Boston Latin School, and the Boston Latin Academy subordinate to the John D – O’Bryant School of Math & Science.

“We will intervene on behalf of Black and Latinx and any other students who would be harmed if this misdirected lawsuit leads anywhere,” said Oren Sellstrom, litigation director at Lawyers for Civil Rights.

The complaint “is based on a fundamental misunderstanding of BPS policy and constitutional law,” said Sellstrom, who added that the US Supreme Court ruled in favor of licensing directives like the one passed by the city.

The Boston School Committee, its members and BPS Superintendent Brenda Cassellius were named as defendants in the complaint.

The school system and office of Mayor Martin J. Walsh declined to comment on Saturday, citing the pending litigation.

In October, the Boston School Committee voted unanimously to remove the requirement for admission to examination schools for one year due to the coronavirus pandemic and instead to determine eligibility based on grades, MCAS results and zip codes.

Before this vote, a working group appointed by Cassellius recommended suspending testing requirements for the 2021-2022 school year.

The admission plan for this fall provides for 20 percent of the seats in the three schools based solely on school grades. The remaining 80 percent of the seats are allocated according to school grades and zip codes, with the largest number going to the neighborhood and the largest proportion of school-age children living in the city.

The lawsuit alleges that the postcode allocation system is discriminatory, “anti-Asian” and will reduce the number of Asian and white students admitted to exam schools while increasing enrollment among Latin American and black students.

It cites comments from current and former members of the school committee as evidence of what it calls the “discriminatory intent” of the zip code policy. Former school committee chair Michael Loconto resigned after being caught on a hot microphone mocking Asian names of people who signed up for public comment prior to the vote on admission to the exam school.

However, the lawsuit states that the pandemic does not call into question “the basic idea of ​​using GPA without testing” for approval this fall.

The complaint was filed on behalf of 14 sixth grade students of Chinese, Indian, and White backgrounds who applied to the exam schools and their parents who are members of the organization.

The families live in Chinatown, Brighton, Beacon Hill and West Roxbury – all of the neighborhoods they say would be affected by the zip code allocation system, the lawsuit said.

The Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence is raising funds to support their efforts and raised nearly $ 6,000 from 44 donors on GoFundMe on Saturday afternoon.

One of his attorneys is William Hurd, who is based in Richmond, Virginia, who represents a group of middle school students and their families suing Fairfax County school officials for blocking changes in admissions policy to Thomas Jefferson High School’s elite for science and science Technology, court records show.

The Virginia lawsuit was filed last year after officials announced a plan to revise their admissions rules to attract more black and Hispanic students to the Alexandria school, rated the best in the country.

Earlier this month, a judge in the Virginia case allowed the lawsuit to proceed but declined to issue an order that would have stopped the changes immediately, court records show.

Lisa Green, a member of the steering committee of the Boston Coalition for Education Equity who lives in the North End, said in an email that the local lawsuit is intended to protect the status quo.

“They are not advocating equality, they are arguing that they are entitled to what they got last year – whether it is fair or not,” she said. “Many of these families live in zip codes like mine, which traditionally have a 100% acceptance rate for exam schools. It is a loss to families in some neighborhoods who count on exam schools for their children, but is this guaranteed access no longer a violation of our constitutional rights? No.”

When asked by Globe Saturday to comment on the lawsuit, the Massachusetts Asian American Educators Association released a statement it made last year in support of the revised exam school admission policy.

The club didn’t call it perfect but “the best option for this year given the health concerns many families have.”

Public school districts across the country have revised their admissions guidelines to address concerns about the lack of diversity and inequalities exacerbated by the pandemic.

Earlier this month, the San Francisco Board of Education voted to remove an admissions system for the prestigious Lowell High School that used test scores and grades in favor of a lottery.

In December, New York City announced a plan to remove the academic criteria for middle school admission for one year in favor of lotteries and to phase out high schools’ admission practices for prioritizing students in their district.

Laura Crimaldi can be reached at [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter @lauracrimaldi.