State probes alleged L. Merion school bias

The Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission is investigating claims by a South Ardmore family that a redistricting plan for Lower Merion schools discriminates based on race.

Shannon Powers, spokeswoman for the commission, said yesterday that the investigation began March 27. The family, which was not identified, filed the complaint March 18, she said.

Powers said the Lower Merion School District, target of the inquiry, had not been notified. "That will happen shortly," Powers said.

This is the second investigation into a redistricting plan passed by the school board Jan. 12. The U.S. Education Department's Office for Civil Rights mounted a similar probe on March 23.

"We knew this was in the works. It's part of the same process," School District spokesman Doug Young said. "It is to be expected that any claim to the OCR would be made concurrently to the HRC, and we will continue to cooperate with both organizations to assist and support their work."

The district has 30 days to answer the complaint, Powers said. Often, issues are settled informally; if not, a hearing can be held. If it is still unsettled after a year, the matter can go to Common Pleas Court, she said.

Powers said Christopher McGinley, the school superintendent, met informally with the commission in January on the redistricting proposal because he knew it was controversial.

The plan calls for pupils in parts of South Ardmore, northern Narberth and Penn Valley to be bused to Harriton High School in Rosemont, although some students would prefer to go to Lower Merion High in Ardmore and could walk there.

The school district contends that the plan was based not on race but on the need to balance enrollment between two new high schools. More families live near Lower Merion High than Harriton, the district says.