SAN FRANCISCO'A California Appellate Court ruled today that Berkeley Unified School District's plan to voluntarily desegregate its schools does not violate Proposition 209. The ACLU of Northern California (ACLU-NC) and the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights are among the legal advocacy groups that represented parents in support of the district's efforts to ensure desegregated schools and classrooms. Other groups representing the parents include the ACLU of Southern California, and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. The District is represented by attorneys at Keker & Van Nest.

The Court held that Proposition 209 does not prohibit the use or consideration of race in voluntary desegregation plans, so long as those plans do not grant preferences to or discriminate against individuals or groups based on race. Specifically, the Court clarified that school districts can take into account the racial demographics of a neighborhood in which a student lives in assigning that student to a particular school.

"This case continues an unbroken line of cases rejecting Ward Connerly's organization's attempts to expand the reach of Proposition 209," said Catherine Lhamon, racial justice director for the ACLU of Southern California. "In addition, the decision protects the important principle that school districts can -- and constitutionally must -- take steps to offer desegregated schools."

BUSD's school assignment policy is designed to promote the values of socioeconomic and racial diversity, and looks at several factors, including the demographics of the neighborhood where a student lives. The policy considers the average household income in the neighborhood, the average education level of adults residing in the neighborhood, and the racial composition of the neighborhood as a whole.

'Berkeley Unified School District can be a model for other districts that want to employ voluntary desegregation plans without running afoul of Prop 209,' said Jory Steele, ACLU-NC Managing Attorney.

'School districts do not have to turn a blind eye to racial segregation. Today's ruling is a significant victory for California students and families who value diversity,' said Kendra Fox-Davis, an attorney at the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights.

The school district's desegregation policy came under fire in 2006, when the Pacific Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit against the school district alleging that the desegregation plan violated Proposition 209. The suit alleged that the policy illegally used race to discriminate against and grant preferences to students when making student assignments.

SANTA ANA, Calif. – The ACLU of Southern California today sued the Newport-Mesa Unified School District and officials of Corona del Mar High School for permitting and sanctioning an atmosphere that is hostile to female, lesbian, bisexual, gay and transgender students in general, and has led to despicable threats of violence against one student in particular.

Corona del Mar High School is the Orange County school where a production of the musical “Rent” was canceled in February before widespread, negative media coverage led school administrators to reverse themselves and allow the production to go forward.

The homophobic harassment and bullying at the school unfortunately typify a rise in hostility toward lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender students throughout California in the wake of the divisive campaign over Proposition 8, which eliminated the right of lesbians and gay men to marry.

“The threats, intimidation and slurs directed toward students on the basis of gender and sexual orientation at Corona del Mar High School are part of a growing sexist and homophobic environment there that school administrators could have – and should have – stopped,” said Hector Villagra, director of the Orange County office of the ACLU/SC. “Instead, these school officials amplified the hostile atmosphere by sending the message that the harassers can act with impunity, and by telling students who were the targets of threats and bullying that they would have to find ways to avoid it.”

Among the charges in the lawsuit is that school officials and the school district have discriminated against students on the basis of sexual orientation or gender, violating the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, Title IX and California safe schools laws.

One female student was targeted in a Facebook video in which three male students made sexually explicit comments about her and threatened her with violence. A fourth male student later threatened the female student on campus. The school’s inadequate and inappropriate response included assigning an assistant football coach at the school to investigate the harassment, an obvious conflict of interest because three of the four accused students are members of the football team. The female student has been forced to change her schedule, classes and routines in order to avoid the harassing students.

In another example of the hostile atmosphere at Corona del Mar High School, after officials at the school canceled the production of “Rent,” they later confiscated rainbow buttons that were worn by some students to show support for the musical.

Katherine Darmer, a Chapman University law professor who is on the board of the Orange County Equality Coalition – which focuses on LGBT issues and is a plaintiff in the ACLU/SC’s lawsuit – said members of the coalition have learned about disturbing incidents of homophobia that appear to have been tolerated at Corona del Mar High School. “Some of our members have been directly affected by this inappropriate conduct, which is particularly harmful in a high-school educational setting. We have several members who are parents in the school district, with a direct stake in the way CDM handles these matters,” Darmer noted. “School officials just don’t seem adequately focused on rooting out these inappropriate displays.”

“The campaign for and passage of Proposition 8 seems to have revived the notion that homophobic behavior is acceptable,” added Lori Rifkin, staff attorney for the ACLU. “The truth is that officials at Corona del Mar High School have an obligation to provide a safe and secure educational environment for all students, and that includes a duty to prevent and respond appropriately to bullying, hostility and threats based on sex or sexual orientation. Sadly, these officials haven’t met their responsibility under the law.”