LOS ANGELES : School Board Votes to Fortify Its Affirmative Action Policy

Faced with a growing statewide movement to overturn affirmative action, the Los Angeles Unified School District instead voted Monday to strengthen its policy in response to protests that district-hired contractors are not employing enough African Americans.

The policy goes beyond the district’s current 50% minority hiring goals by requiring that contractors who bid on construction projects prove that they will strive to include members of all ethnic minority groups, as well as women.

“We realize that all affirmative action goals will be challenged in the future,” said Kirk Rascoe, director of affirmative action for the district. “But we’re saying that, as long as we have a goal, we want to see diversity within that.”

Before taking the 6-0 vote, several board members acknowledged that their timing is unusual, coming amid myriad attacks on affirmative action, including a proposed constitutional amendment to disallow race- and gender-based hiring preferences for state jobs and public college admission.

The action followed angry testimony by members of Community Watch, an organization that began monitoring hiring practices in South-Central Los Angeles after the 1992 riots. Since last fall, Community Watch has temporarily closed down two school construction sites where no African Americans were employed.

Those protests touched off a district review of 43 active school construction sites, which found that nearly 42% had no African American workers, 72% had no Asians and 69% had no women. Only one had no Latino workers, which district officials said in part reflects the exploitation of undocumented Latinos who are willing to work for substandard wages.

The new Los Angeles Unified policy calls for contractors to include in their initial job bid goals for hiring minorities and women--and a timetable for meeting those goals. No sanction for falling short was included, however, pending district review of the legality of punitive measures.

After the vote, several Community Watch members questioned how successful bolstering of the current policy would be when the district’s own review showed that more than a third of the construction sites do not meet the 50% minority goal.

“I don’t even see this (vote) as a victory,” said Nareshimah Osei, a Community Watch organizer and affirmative action consultant. “This is just one little move in the right direction.”