Federal judge denies Boston schools request for more time on exam school lawsuit

A federal judge has denied a Boston schools request for more time to respond “profound and serious allegations” in an exam schools lawsuit that a parent group is seeking to reopen following the release of school committee text messages.

The Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence, which tried — and failed — to sue the city over a new exam schools admissions process that relied heavily on a zip code quota, made another run at litigation last week after disparaging text messages between Boston School Committee members were released.

The group’s June 22 motion claims the city deliberately kept the messages from public release, and that the texts show “anti-White racism” on behalf of school committee members who approved the temporary exam schools plan.

The texts, which the Herald obtained via public records request, were sent during a meeting last fall.

Former chair Alexandra Oliver-Davila texted former member Lorna Rivera “I hate WR” — West Roxbury — to which Rivera replied “sick of westie whites” — to which Oliver-Davila said, “Me too I really feel Like saying that!!!!”

Court documents from the Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence read, “The deliberate concealment of this evidence lends further support to the Boston Parents’ position that the Zip Code Quota Plan was racially motivated.”

Court filings continued, “It is not too late for the other forms of relief the Boston Parents requested, including the permanent injunction barring any further use of the Zip Code Quota Plan, as well as relief specific to the families represented by the Boston Parents.”

The motion concludes, “Even if there is some innocent explanation for the concealment of the text messages, the fact remains that they were concealed from the Boston Parents and the Court.”

Lawyers for Boston Public Schools asked U.S. District Court Judge William Young for more time to file an opposition, seeking to push the scheduled July 9 hearing back to August.

Attorney Kay Hodge cited the need for more time as she is involved in another case representing the Boston Police Department in a federal discrimination hearing slated for July 13.

But Young wouldn’t have it.

He wrote on Friday that the request was denied, saying the plaintiff’s motion on school committee texts, “raises profound and most serious allegations — potentially fraud on the Court.”

The next hearing is set for July 9. Boston Public Schools declined to comment due to pending litigation.

William Hurd, attorney for the Boston Parent Coalition for Academic Excellence said, “We will reserve our comments for presentation to the court.”

Boston’s exam school admission policy has continued to heat up since the temporary policy spurred by the coronavirus pandemic was put into place.

A new, permanent policy that uses a poverty indicator and socioeconomic tiers was presented before the school committee on Wednesday and committee members will vote on it later this month.

from Boston Herald https://ift.tt/36h06f3