Judge: Unseal documents in L. Merion redistricting suit

A federal judge yesterday ordered parties in a lawsuit challenging Lower Merion School District's 2009 redistricting plan to make previously sealed court records public.

Nine Ardmore students, identified in court documents as "Students Doe 1-9," filed the lawsuit last May, alleging that the redistricting plan discriminates against black students.

Yesterday's hearing was prompted when a reporter for the Main Line Times asked the court on Feb. 12 to unseal some of the records. The Daily News and Inquirer were permitted to intervene in the case yesterday.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs and the school district, in response to questions by U.S. District Judge Michael M. Baylson, explained why the records had been sealed.

The plaintiffs' attorney, David G.C. Arnold, said that the parties had negotiated a confidentiality agreement to not disclose information about the students and their families, including names, addresses, school grade, identity of siblings, current and former employers, and even current and former bus stops.

Judith Harris, an attorney for the district, said that some citizens who were not party to the lawsuit had sent e-mails to board members and that those e-mails had been filed under seal.

Baylson, who scolded attorneys for filing court documents under seal without an order from him, ordered that all briefs and all 83 plaintiffs' exhibits be made public as promptly as possible, with some exceptions.

He said that the names, addresses and personal identifying information of plaintiffs and their parents would remain private.

Baylson also ordered that individuals who wrote e-mails to school-board members would be referred to only by their initials, and that any identifying workplace information, including e-mail addresses, would also be redacted.

The plaintiffs, whose parents are black, contend that the redistricting plan, which requires that some students living in Ardmore, Narberth and Penn Valley be bused to the new Harriton High School, in Rosemont, is racially discriminatory.

All of the plaintiffs live in Ardmore, which is near where the existing Lower Merion High School is undergoing expansion.

The district said that the redistricting plan was based on geography and designed to affect the fewest number of people.

Baylson said that he would rule by Friday on the district's motion to dismiss the lawsuit.