Dine Communities for Equality in Education, et al v Page Unified School District
Parents Claim Elementary Schools are Segregated into Indian and White
Page Unified School District received notice of a class action lawsuit being filed against it by the Diné Communities for Equality in Education and nine parents who allege that the Page Unified School District's (PUSD) elementary schools are segregated into "Indian" and "white" schools.
The suit, which was filed in a U.S. District Court in Phoenix on January 12, is not requesting any monetary damages suffered from the alleged segregation, but it is asking that the school district implement a plan that eliminates the disproportionate ethnic populations, as well as reimbursement of attorneys' fees.
In the suit, the plaintiffs claim that Desert View Elementary School and Lake View Elementary School are segregated based on the "racial composition of the student body, faculty and staff." Based on data from the Arizona Department of Education, the suit claims that the student count at Desert View was 493 students in the 2004-05 school year, 92 percent of which are American Indian. Lake View's composition for that year was allegedly 53.3 percent American Indian with a student count of 596 students. The suit did not give statistics on the percentage of staff members who are American Indian, although the school district has claimed an average Navajo staff percentage of 14 percent.
The district's "open enrollment" policy allegedly allows the segregation to occur, according to the plaintiffs. They claim the district uses race to determine student assignments, busing assignments and school enrollment assignments.
The district allegedly "prevents or hinders the enrollment of American Indian students at Lake View or their transfer between the two schools using purported limits on student enrollment regarding school size and capacity, teacher-pupil ratios and class size ratios. These practices do not occur at Desert View," according to the suit. "Student populations at both schools are less than the facilities' maximum student capacity."
The suit claims a review was conducted by the district, but it did not go with the plan of splitting the grades. However, PUSD's board approved a plan called "Elementary Reconfiguration," which, in the plaintiffs' view, did not desegregate the schools but instead provided "tacit admissions of segregation and are now part of the district's policy, custom and practice of segregating its elementary schools."
The class action suit notes that the elementary schools, with a combined population of 1,085, are a large part of the district. As a result, "…segregation in the elementary schools renders the entire school district a dual discriminatory educational system that is not unitary in its educational programs and services."
Besides the DCEE, the plaintiffs in the lawsuit are Darlene Nelson, William Moore, Belinda Moore, Benny Fowler, Shirley Fowler, Allen Talker, Brenda Talker, Edward Burns, and Elaine Greyeyes; all have children who attend Desert View, according to the court document. The suit names the current members of the PUSD governing board, Dale Tsosie, Jerry Williams, Mark Hansen, Bob LaPlante, and Elizabeth Mayes as defendants.
