Facts

In 2007, child members of the Yurok Tribe sued defendant Del Norte Unified School District in a class action suit, alleging the district closure of the sixth through eighth grades at the Margaret Keating Elementary School on the Yurok reservation in Klamath was racial discrimination.

PLAINTIFFS' CONTENTIONS:
Plaintiffs claimed the school was the only school to provide instruction in the Yurok language and skills central to the survival of the Yurok culture. For example, the school maintained a model Yurok village and canoes, which would no longer be accessible to the children. By closing the selected grades, the students were sent to an off-reservation site in Crescent City. These actions resulted in a violation of the Equal Protection rights of the children, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, and California Code Section 11135.

DEFENDANTS' CONTENTIONS:
Defendants contended that Margaret Keating Elementary School was closed for fiscal reasons and to improve the overall educational opportunities for the students who were transferred to Crescent Elk Middle School in Crescent City, California. The defense contended that Margaret Keating remains open for kindergarten through fifth grade and the "model Yurok village and canoes" has always been accessible to all. The defense argued that the Office of Civil Rights did not find a violation, as plaintiffs contended; rather it issued a "Negative Determination" of insufficient evidence at the administrative level. The defense contended that Yurok educational opportunities have been and remain available at Crescent Elk Middle School.

Damages

Plaintiffs sought preliminary and permanent injunctions ordering the school to re-open the closed grades, staff it with qualified teachers, and support activities that foster Native American languages, history, and culture, and permit Native American children living in Klamath to attend the school.

Result

The parties settled. The district agreed to create an afterschool program to teach those interested students the Yurok language and culture, and the District agreed to provide additional bus services to all students, Yurok and non-Yurok, who travel from Klamath to Crescent City. The grant funded resolution was implemented long before the settlement agreement was signed by the remaining plaintiff. All parties paid their own costs and fees.