Lower Merion, PA--Families of nine African American students residing in the South Ardmore section of Lower Merion filed a federal civil-rights lawsuit with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against the Lower Merion School District alleging that its high school Redistricting "3-R" Plan that was approved in January discriminates against black students by busing them to Harriton High School rather than to Lower Merion High School, which is a neighborhood school that is situated within a one-mile radius of the students' homes. Prior to the redistricting effort, the South Ardmore community had the "choice" of attending either high school. The families want school choice reinstated. They have not put forth before the Court a challenge or dispute over the community's perceived "racial division" at the elementary school level. The Lower Merion School District Board members, administrators and staff, through its solicitor Ken Roos, publicly denied all allegations at its May 18, 2009 school board meeting.
