Eden Prairie parents turn up heat in school battle

Intensifying their fight to an unusual level, Eden Prairie parents have hired a Missouri lawyer with a record of battling school desegregation to lead the charge against their school district.

John Munich argued the landmark 1995 Supreme Court case that nearly dismantled a metrowide school desegregation plan in Kansas City. Munich and three Minneapolis lawyers have been retained by parents who oppose what they call "running a recycled busing experiment in Eden Prairie."

In a widely watched and passionately argued debate, the Eden Prairie school board decided in December to move 1,100 children to new schools next fall, largely to desegregate the increasingly diverse district. Other suburban districts face similar demographic challenges.

If the Eden Prairie parents' effort results in litigation, it would be the first local school desegregation-related lawsuit in more than a decade.

The parent group, Yes for Neighborhood Schools, announced the possible litigation this week on the group's website. The group says it has more than 2,000 people on its e-mail list.

To finance its fight, it is collecting donations through the website, with a goal of $100 per family.

Parents connected with the group declined to comment. Munich could not be reached for comment this week.

One of the Minneapolis lawyers involved in the case, Jeff Mulder, said Monday: "Our clients have raised legitimate questions regarding the boundary changes and the process undertaken by the school board." Mulder is with the firm of Bassford Remele.

If a lawsuit is filed, "we would certainly vigorously defend the district," Eden Prairie district spokeswoman Camie Melton Hanily said. "It would be unfortunate to spend our resources on that."

Suit would be 'extraordinary'

While decisions about where children attend school are often contentious, Twin Cities lawyer Jim Hilbert said formal litigation from parents is unusual.

"I think in most circumstances you have a lot of demonstrations, and you have a lot of loud meetings," said Hilbert, who was involved in a Minneapolis desegregation lawsuit in the 1990s and is executive director of the Center for Negotiation and Justice at William Mitchell College of Law. "But I think to take the actual step of litigation -- that's pretty extraordinary."

New boundary lines reduce the gap between the number of low-income students at elementary schools from 33 percent to about 8 percent.

Race, district officials said, correlates with socioeconomics in the 9,700-student suburban district.

Parents opposing the changes insisted that they weren't against diversity, but rather feared losing neighborhood K-4 schools.

'Failed strategy'

The group Yes for Neighborhood Schools has been active in the fight from the start. On its website this week, it says the group is "fighting to keep neighborhood schools in the neighborhood" and calls the district's plan a "failed strategy and a false hope."

School district attorney Maggie Wallner said it would take at least 90 days. The group's attorneys said that timeline was unacceptable and sent a narrowed request Monday that included a 30-day deadline.

Longtime dispute

Integrating school districts has been a long-disputed issue locally and nationally.

In the 1970s, Minneapolis and St. Paul began busing students to desegregate schools, an effort that was later replaced with voluntary desegregation efforts.

In the 1990s, Hilbert represented the NAACP and Minneapolis parents in desegregation lawsuits that argued segregated schools violate the Minnesota Constitution, which requires an adequate education to all students.

"The [Eden Prairie] district has a compelling argument that it is required under the state Constitution to avoid segregated schools by race and socioeconomics," Hilbert said, adding that parents' plea for neighborhood schools "is the euphemism that people have for leaving segregated schools."

Mitch Pearlstein, president of the Center of the American Experiment, a Minneapolis conservative group, doesn't dispute the need for diversity in schools.

But as a longstanding advocate for school choice, he said, he isn't surprised by the mobilization of Eden Prairie parents. "Eden Prairie is setting themselves up to find more parents removing themselves from the schools," he said.