In Dallas District Court, that Preston Hollow Elementary Lawsuit You Forgot All About

By Megan Feldman Mon., Mar. 9 2009 at 4:33 PM

Categories: Crime, Edumication News

Pin It

Illustration by Brian Stauffer

With little fanfare and hardly any spectators, the trial in the case of Graciela McKay vs. DISD wraps up this week in U.S. District Court, with a verdict expected as early as tomorrow. McKay is the Preston Hollow teacher who filed a federal lawsuit against the district and the school's former principal, Teresa Parker, in which she alleges that district officials retaliated against her for calling attention to what District Judge Sam Lindsay ruled was deliberate segregation of minority students. McKay's asking for her job back -- plus damages and attorney's fees.

The case's scope has shrunk, though, as ahead of the trial's opening last week, District Judge Reed O'Connor dismissed the Dallas Independent School District and Superintendent Michael Hinojosa as defendants. That leaves only Parker, who Lindsay described as operating a private whites-only school and ordered to pay $20,200 to a Latino parent.

Most of the witnesses, including DISD school board president Jack Lowe, Hinojosa and Renee Martinez -- the League of United Latin American Citizens member and DISD administrator who, when directed to investigate complaints of segregation at Preston Hollow, concluded there was no evidence it was happening -- testified last week. When Unfair Park stopped by District Judge Reed O'Connor's court room this morning, DISD staff attorney Derrell Coleman was on the stand. After a lengthy discussion about complaints McKay made to the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights in 2006, his testimony concluded with this:
Brian Sanford, McKay's attorney: "You didn't believe there was any segregation going on, did you?"

Coleman: "No."

Sanford: "She couldn't convince the [Office for Civil Rights], either, apparently."

Coleman: "Apparently not."

Sanford: "But they were able to convince a federal judge."

Coleman: "That was the judgment."

Sanford: "Regardless of what the OCR does or believes, and regardless of what you believe, Ms. McKay had the right to speak about those matters without being retaliated against [under the First Amendment]."

Coleman answered that the right to free speech applies if she was complaining to administrators who could do something about the segregation, but not if she was talking to parents or students. Interesting Constitutional assertion, though we won't know until later what it means for McKay's case.

After testimony wraps up this afternoon and the lawyers make their closing arguments, we'll let you know what the jury decides.

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Weekly Newsletter: Our weekly feature stories, movie reviews, calendar picks and more - minus the newsprint and sent directly to your inbox.

Write Comment

Email to Friend

Print Article

Related Content

Ms McKay was retaliated against for trying to stop the segregation. She has suffered long and hard for the right of all students to receive a fair and equal education. Since that time she has moved on to another district and is doing very well there. How a jury could decide in favor of DISD is beyond me. She was clearly retaliated against and was denied her freedom of speech. The board of Education at DISD knew of her reports of segregation yet terminated her just the same. DISD is responsible for her suffering and should reverse her Non-renewal. Goes to show you that if you have enough money you can get away with anything...
I LOVE THAT PARKER WON AND THAT THING LOST!!! TOO FUNNY, FINALLY THE TRUTH COMES OUT.
Apparently the attorney defending principal Parker is none other than one employed by Royce West's firm. And who said crime doesn't pay and pay well? If citizens ever get to vote on school board members again, the first question they need to ask candidates is whether they support a state senator staying on the payroll of DISD.
Parker will lose this suit also because of the attorneys who represent her. Ronquillo and is office are idiots. A friend of mine had to call Ronquillo's office and point out that in some of the original filings, Ronquillo's staff posted a document that had McKay's Tax ID there for all to see. It was redacted a day later. No one in Ronquillo's office noticed. Now there is a violation of a persons privacy. DISD can really pick attorneys, and pay them outlandish fees. You tax dollars at work.
Since mainly brown children were being put in classes that were retarding their growth, of course DISD hired a brown attorney to argue that this was acceptable. Who else but Ronquillo? If it had been mainly black children segregated, then Moye is the man for the job. Remember when he argued against releasing ITBS data indicating the weakest teachers? This is the game with all the bought-and-paid-for minority attorneys in town. It might seem racist to have a white attorney argue that segregating children in order to preserve majority white classes is okey dokey, so DISD hired attorneys the same color as the aggrieved children and parents. That ought to fool us taxpayers, huh? As far as Martinez is concerned, he knew they were segregating children and has admitted as much. Being a friend of principal Parker was far more important than preserving basic constitutional rights for brown children. After all, when Martinez was acting as an administrator and he had no credentials, it's important to act, walk, and quack just like the white folks do. Rene has been a self-serving opportunist for decades, so why wouldn't he be accepted into the inner circle of DISD? Might want to also check those district credit card expenses when he was acting as the district dropout czar. The dropout rates didn't decline, but those taxpayer-paid lunches sure were fun. And those weekly shopping trips at Fiesta Mart didn't seem to impact the dropout rate either, but hey, it's all a big game, right?
It cost over 1mil to argue separate but equal? Please. We should all be suing the DISD lawyers. Where did Rene's kids go to school. Preston Hollow, but not ESL. LULAC - Let us lose all credibility - with one whack!
It was DISD's own data that did the district in. Their own class lists showed that Anglo kids were placed in largely separate, largely white classes while ESL classes included African-American and Hispanic children who spoke perfect English. DISD's own witness, who was in charge of ESL instruction, testified that the numbers didn't make sense. Let's just be 100 percent clear here: Latino and African-American children, who spoke perfect English and in some cases tested at gifted and talented levels, were placed in ESL classes. That, in turn, allowed the neighborhood Anglo children to be together in the same classroom. DISD did not dispute any of that. Their lawyer's contention was merely that the ESL classes were no less challenging than the regular ones. That's a rather retrograde argument and one the judge didn't buy.
Scamp- DISD is not a corporation--there ISN'T a "company line." This woman was being paid with TAXPAYER dollars. Therefore, your statement that she tote the lie to parents means she is lying to those who pay her salary. For the rest of you peabrains in Preston Hollow, the original lawsuit was brought by a mom who didn't want her English-speaking child placed in ESL because of the need to keep the white classes white. The child was brown so she was placed in classes for brown children who needed help learning English. Do you want your own children placed in ESL? As for scamp's assertion, if the district is engaging in illegal activity, which it was, then teachers, who are also citizens with rights, are supposed to lie to cover the butts of lying administrators? How about grade fraud? Should they keep all secrets so that taxpayers keep shelling out the big bucks to a corrupt, deceitful group of administrators? How about Enron? Should anyone in the know have just reported the scam to Jeff Skilling and let it go at that? Madoff's employees should just have reported it, but kept their mouths shut? SCAMP-go need to go sign up to be a superintendent in an urban school district. You've already been trained in lying and deception for the "good" of the company.
The DISD attorney makes a good point. McKay was free to speak with the administrators. But when speaking with students and parents as a representative of the school and DISD, she should be limited to the company line. If she doesn't like that, she can quit. But no organization can be successful if its employees are sending mixed messages.
Invoking "Preston Hollow" is the Godwin's Law for trying to destroy Dallas ISD schools with any Anglo participation. As a Wildcat, I'm not one to heartily defend North Dallas or Hillcrest and its feeders. But I have seen the attack mob try to derail other schools with this tactic. Tell me exactly how 10-15-20% of a small school can practically be segregated? It would have to be over-the-top blatant and hard to hide. Also many if not most of these schools have large numbers of minority teachers, principals and counselors. I don't know about the specifics at Preston Hollow back then, but I can see that putting mostly white kids on the brochure was a somewhat innocent mistake. I imagine they were trying to prove that some white kids actually attended the school. If somebody really had the evil intent of segregation, I condemn it. How about criticizing Ivory Snow Highland Park, the lemmings streaming to not-that-spectacular-but-white schools in Frisco and the many white-flight "Christian" academies?
Now that I've cleaned up the Coca Cola that flew out of my news with Peter's last post. Let's address his serious allegation about Franklin Middle School. Franklin's Principal, Ronald Jones, a 6'1" well educated, no-nonsense, hands-on African American is allowing segregation to occur in his school, blatantly. Hold on, I'm laughing all over again. Anyone who has met RoJo would immediately sense that this man is serious about education for all the kids. Regardless if they came from two streets away or the "five points" area that formerly fed into Franklin, this man does not hesitate to take on parents or staff who are wrong. I've seen this man hop in his car to chase down "truants" a few blocks away, and I've seen him go head-to-head with "neighborhood" parents who wanted preferential treatment for their child. Peter, with your one statement you destroyed your credibility.
This is about 6 white school kids in the 6th grade who lived in one neighborhood being kept together. Their parents were the only ones willing to subject their kids to the abuse of DISD non-educators. How is it segregation when it was only 6 kids being kept together out of the entire school population. Most of the kids in Preston Hollow are bused in from apartments.
Yes, public schools do tend to scare the pussy pudnuckers away.
If You Seek Amy, I taught at Franklin, the segregation was so blatant it was scary. Open your eyes.
Rene Martinez, what a joke. He is assigned by former DISD Asst. Superintendent Dr. Steve Flores to investigate the segregation that took place at Preston Hollow only to seek the assistance of a non-DISD employee to assist him in investigating this horrible situation. Turns out Rene sought the assistance of a former National LULAC officer, Joe Campos to assist him in investigating this case. The result of their investigation. They found no wrongdoing but the parents of the segregated Preston Hollow students won their lawsuit in federal court. Go figure.
PeterK, when was the last time you stepped into a "Hillcrest feeder pattern" school. I volunteer at several schools, and have found the closest link to excellence in academics is the parents involvement in their childs education. Regardless of neighborhood status. Do us a favor and quit flipping off your lips when your brain knows nothing. And I already know, F Me. Click the link.
So McKay loses her first amendment right to speak to parents? Why didn't Rene Martinez lose his darned job over the way he handled this situation? This case has cost taxpayers way over a million, and Martinez is still in the DISD pig trough. Hope she included Martinez as well as that upstanding principal in this suit.
Of course there's segregation going on there. Up and down the Hillcrest feeder pattern. If you are a "neighborhood kid" you get put into classes with other "neighborhood kids." Since most families in the neighborhood would never think about sending their kids to DISD schools the "neighborhood" classes are small and lilly white.