SCHOOL SPOTLIGHT IS LAKE HIGHLANDS LOSING INFLUENCE IN RISD?

Alawsuit that claims school-board election methods cheat minorities out of seats at the table could shake up neighborhood politics.

Three of seven elected Richardson ISD trustees live in Lake Highlands, and they could be pitted against each other if the lawsuit has its way.

And history is in its favor.

Attorney Bill Brewer, representing former RISD trustee David Tyson in two lawsuits against the district, has won every similar case he’s tried.

Brewer Storefront, the pro bono arm of Dallas-based Brewer Attorneys & Counselors, filed claims of voting injustice and won against three suburban school districts over the past decade.

The lawsuits ended at-large voting in Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Grand Prairie and Irving ISDs, and RISD could be next.

The two lawsuits against RISD allege violations of the federal Voting Rights Act and the Texas Open Meetings Act.

“We don’t think any of the assertions are accurate,” says RISD Board of Trustees President Justin Bono. “But we’re going to work on it through the legal process, which, unfortunately, takes a long time.”

Tyson, the only minority who’s ever served on RISD’s board, claims that the district’s at-large election system discourages minority representation. He claims the all-white board members “prioritize [a] cluster of high-performing, primarily white schools at the expense of the rest of the community,” which has led to an “egregious performance gap” between affluent white students and others in the district.

“Maintaining the status quo at the highest levels of power keeps RISD frozen in time, lacks true democratic legitimacy, and inhibits the development of tools necessary to address the challenges of inequality and poverty that many of its students face daily,” Tyson states in the lawsuit.

In the second lawsuit, Tyson accuses trustees of meeting secretly to discuss business, in violation of Texas law, and then covering their tracks by erasing incriminating texts, emails and phone messages. As evidence, he points to more than 500 unanimous votes over the last seven years, “votes that appear swift and uncontested, but in truth have been choreographed behind the scenes.”

Story By CAROL TOLER Illustration by ASHLEY DRAKE

Brewer Storefront Victories

Date filed:

2007

Defendant:

City of Irving

Lawsuit: Challenged the at-large election system that typically elected an all-white City Council, even though whites represent a little more than half the city’s population.

Date resolved: A federal judge ruled in July 2009 that Irving’s local elections had unfairly barred minority voters from winning.

Outcome: The City Council changed to six single-member districts and two at-large seats. Two minorities currently serve on the board.

Date filed:

2008 And 2013

Defendant:

Irving ISD

Lawsuit: Challenged the five singlemember districts and two at-large seats, which the storefront claimed did not benefit Hispanic voters.

Date resolved: A federal judge ruled in August 2014 that Hispanic voters were denied an equal opportunity to elect candidates of their choice.

Outcome: The council changed to seven single-member seats. One is considered a “Hispanic-opportunity district,” although none have yet been elected.

Date filed: 2010

Defendant:

City of Farmers Branch

Lawsuit: Challenged the at-large voting system that “denied Hispanic voters the opportunity to meaningfully participate in the electoral process.”

Date resolved: U.S. District Court Judge Sidney A. Fitzwater ruled in August 2012 that the plaintiffs “have proved, under the totality of the circumstances, that Hispanics in Farmers Branch have less opportunity than other members of the electorate to participate in the political process and to elect representatives of their choice.”

Outcome: The City Council now includes five single-member districts,

Brewer Storefront has drawn proposed districts around Hamilton Park, majority African-American, and around the Central Expressway and Midpark area, majority Hispanic. Current RISD board members live outside of these districts and close enough to each other that, if a lawsuit prevails, they could be pitted against each other in board elections.

The cases could settle or go to trial, but Tyson’s attorneys propose changing from at-large voting to single-member districts.

That would make the way RISD school board members are elected look dramatically different.

Changing to single-member districts would require a voter map to be drawn to include at least two districts that likely would elect minority candidates, based on population statistics. The lawsuit proposes districts with lines drawn around Hamilton Park, majority African-American, and around the Central Expressway and Midpark area, majority Hispanic.

In that scenario, four of six current trustees could be forced off the board: Current board members Justin Bono, Jean Bono and Karen Clardy live in Lake Highlands near Moss Haven within half a mile of each other.

Kim Caston, Kristin Kuhne and Katie Patterson live within 2.5 miles in the J.J.