Students in Lawsuit Are Cast as Heroes

Inglewood High School students Rasheda Daniel, Andre Green and Jorge Gutierrez were extremely nervous when they filed a class-action lawsuit accusing their own school district of depriving blacks and Latinos of equal access to the state’s elite public universities.

That much was clear when they stood shoulder-to-shoulder--stiff as boards with foreheads shiny and eyes as wide as saucers--under the television lights during a news conference a week ago at the American Civil Liberties Union’s headquarters downtown.

“I saw all the cameras and lights and thought for sure I was going to mess up,” recalled Gutierrez.

“Would there be repercussions from the principal?” wondered Green.

“The only thing more frightening was when I had to play a midget on stage in drama class,” recalled Daniel, who is 5 feet, 9 inches tall.

But the negative feedback that these students expected never materialized. Instead, their image has taken a surprising turn, with none other than Inglewood Mayor Roosevelt Dorn proclaiming them local heroes, models of courage.

“We should be proud of these kids for making a decision to challenge a system that has not been fair to them,” Dorn said in an interview.

“No city can reach its potential without a free, adequate and equal education,” he added. “Our children deserve the best. And they don’t have the best at the present moment.”

When informed of the mayor’s pronouncement, the usually glib Daniel was so impressed she found it hard to speak.

“Heroes?” she said. “Wow! That’s wild.”

“Let me get this straight. We sue the mayor’s school district and he calls us heroes,” Green said. “Hmm. Interesting.”

Now comes Step 2 for Daniel, Green, Gutierrez and a fourth plaintiff, Darren Dix Jr., who was out of town and did not appear at the news conference: mustering the stamina and commitment to stick with a complex legal challenge that may take years to resolve.

Each of them is resigned to the fact that, even if they prevail, the benefits probably won’t arrive in time to enhance their own

academic careers.

Daniel, 17, wants to attend USC or UC Berkeley and major in theater. Dix, 17, hopes to attend medical school and become a pediatrician. Green, 16, wants to pursue a career in the computer industry. Gutierrez, 14, wants to become a veterinarian.

All of them want to take an Advanced Placement science or math course. But Inglewood High offers only three AP courses, none of them in math or science. By comparison, Beverly Hills High School offers 14 AP courses in subjects ranging from math and science to art history.

The lawsuit aims to correct the fact that predominantly black and Latino public high schools statewide do not offer as many Advanced Placement courses as predominantly white schools.

Lacking the competitive edge such courses provide, black and Latino students are being disproportionately rejected from premier universities such as UC Berkeley and UCLA, according to the lawsuit filed by the ACLU on the plaintiffs’ behalf in Los Angeles Superior Court.

The suit lays some of the blame on the University of California’s admissions policy, which rewards extra points for AP and honors courses. Students who get an A on an AP or honors exam earn 5 points instead of the usual 4, and in an AP class they get a chance to earn college credit.

The extra points favor a student trying to enroll at UCLA, where last year’s applicants had an average high school grade-point average of 4.19--a feat achievable only by taking AP and honors classes. Last year’s UCLA students had taken an average of 16.8 AP and honors courses, ACLU lawyers said.

The plaintiffs say the current situation violates their right to a free and equal education.

Sitting in the impeccable living room of her home in South Los Angeles, Daniel said: “You know how courts are; it takes forever to work things out. But, hey, I’ve got forever to spend if it helps future generations of kids wanting AP courses.”