HAZLETON, Pa. (AP) — Latinos looking for jobs and affordable housing have transformed Hazleton, Pennsylvania in recent decades, but a federal lawsuit argues that the way representatives serve on their local school board are elected, unfairly excludes them from power.
Nearly two-thirds of students in the Hazleton Area School District are Hispanic, but no Hispanic person has ever been elected to the school board, prompting a court challenge alleging that non-Hispanic white voters used the district’s “at-large” voting system let it stay that way.
Two mothers of children enrolled in the Anthracite Coal Region district filed a lawsuit in February demanding changes to a system that they say dilutes their voting power and violates the federal Voting Rights Act and the constitutional right to equal protection of the law.
The county’s 78,000 residents are about 55% white, 40% Hispanic and 5% black, Asian or mixed race, with Hispanics concentrated around Hazleton, according to the lawsuit. Hazleton is among several smaller cities in eastern Pennsylvania where the Latino population has grown immense enough to have significant influence on elections, including this year’s hotly contested presidential and U.S. Senate races.
The Hazleton board demonstrated “a significant lack of responsiveness” to the needs of the county’s Hispanic residents, the plaintiffs argued in the lawsuit.
“This includes, but is not limited to, a failure to address serious concerns related to disparities in student discipline, student registration processes based on unfair stereotypes, inadequate school staffing, a lack of qualified translators, and a lack of effective communication with parents,” the lawsuit states.
The district requires those seeking to enroll in school to provide three separate proofs of address to verify residency. There is a bilingual sign at the entrance to the administration building with “must be three” and “no exceptions” underlined. added by hand.
Latino leaders say such evidence can be challenging for those novel to the country who may lack stable living conditions. Some say school translators are overworked and understaffed. And there is a feeling that students without good English skills can face harsher disciplinary treatment.
“We’re in an area that’s very conservative,” said Vianney Castro, a Dominican-born Republican and Democrat who lost the Hazleton mayoral election in November by about 25 percentage points. “They refused to change. And everything that happens around us is change.”
Tony Bonomo, president of the Hazleton Area School Board, said electing voters by region may be fairer, but he and the other sitting board members are unlikely to initiate such a change.
“I think we’re probably close to that happening,” said Bonomo, a seven-term Democrat. “You almost have to do it. When you have a district that’s 60% Latino or whatever, something has to happen.”
When the school district’s attorney moved to dismiss the case last month, he argued that the two plaintiffs lack standing to sue under the Voting Rights Act and that voters are divided by partisan affiliation rather than race and ethnicity.
“Plaintiffs do not allege with credible specificity that the claimed Hispanic voter group is politically coherent or that the white majority votes as a bloc sufficiently to defeat the minority’s preferred candidate in general – both assumptions that are flatly refuted by partisan realities. “Demographics of Hazleton,” the board’s attorney wrote.
The nine members of the all-white school board are elected district-wide, an at-large electoral system the school board adopted in 1989 amid political disputes over spending. Previously, board members were elected from smaller regions within the district.
The Pennsylvania State Education Association says 310 of the state’s 500 school boards, such as Hazleton Area, are elected entirely at-large, 175 are elected from regions within the entire district and 15 are elected using a hybrid system.
The Hazleton Area School Board has filled vacancies with non-Hispanics twice in recent years, the Hazleton Standard-Speaker reported in February.
The Bethlehem Area School District settled a similar federal lawsuit in 2008 that was sparked by its decision to bypass two Hispanic candidates and appoint a white man to fill a vacancy. Under this agreement, three geographic seats were created in Bethlehem, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) from Hazleton, but the remaining six members remain elected at-large.
The influx of novel residents has long been a contentious issue in Hazleton. In July 2006, the City Council passed the Illegal Immigration Relief Act. The aim is to deny business permits to companies that employ people living in the country illegally. A federal judge struck down the regulation.
The state’s booming Latino population is experiencing growing pains as it works to convert raw numbers into political power, said Rep. Manny Guzman, a Democrat from Reading and vice chairman of the Pennsylvania Legislative Latino Caucus.
“We need to do a better job of mobilizing our voters and building a vote bank in these respective areas,” Guzman said.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed a document earlier this month underscoring the ability of private plaintiffs, like the two women suing Hazleton County, to bring such challenges under the Voting Rights Act of 1965.
