GALVESTON — The Galveston public school district did nothing unconstitutional when it closed Alamo Elementary School, a federal judge ruled this week.
On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Sim Lake approved the district’s 2007-08 reconfiguration plan, which included closing the predominately Hispanic elementary school.
The U.S. Department of Justice intervened in the summer after the local chapter of the League of United Latin American Citizens complained that the closures of San Jacinto and Alamo elementary schools put an undue burden on minority students.
In his order, Lake wrote that the justice department failed to “raise even a colorable argument that the reassignment plan is unconstitutional and the fact that the 2007-08 school year is nearing completion, the court sees no reason not to grant the district’s motion.”
Representatives of Galveston’s public school district and the justice department will meet April 10 with Lake as part of the district’s ongoing bid for a legal declaration of racial desegregation known as unitary status. Lake could make further rulings then.
In recent months, the district and the justice department have been working together to ease the animosity that developed between the two during the summer and achieve unitary status for the district.
Miguel Aleman, president of the local LULAC Council, said in a statement he was disappointed with the decision.
The decision confirmed his “belief that the federal courts are out of step with mainstream ideology,” he wrote.
