Possible bias in transfers is probed

http://www.sfgate.com/default/article/San-Mateo-student-transfers-probed-3748153.php

Hoi Ki Sin graduated from middle school this spring in Millbrae, where her family lives, and was all set to enter the ninth grade at Mills High School, the top-performing school in the San Mateo Union High School District. Instead, she's been assigned to Capuchino High in San Bruno, which has the district's lowest test scores.

"They said I'm not living in Millbrae," the 14-year-old girl said. "I'm not qualified because I'm living in my aunt's house, not in my parents' house."

Advocates say they know of at least a dozen similar cases in which the district barred Chinese American students from their local high school because they couldn't prove they lived in the neighborhood - their parents' names weren't on the home deed or rental agreement, or the head of household wasn't legally registered as the student's guardian.

In one case, the district has effectively kept a girl out of school for two years by refusing to recognize her residence in Millbrae with her aunt, who has cared for her since her parents returned to China, said an attorney involved in the matter, Jenny Huang.

Why San Mateo would rig its enrollment policies isn't entirely clear, but test scores may provide a clue.

The district's Academic Performance Index, based on standardized tests, was 813 in 2010-11, compared with the state's stated goal of 800 on a scale of 200 to 1,000.

Mills had the highest score of any school in the district, 863, and Capuchino the lowest, 748. The district's Asian American students, who made up 55 percent of Mills' enrollment and 14 percent of Capuchino's, scored an average of 900. The state can intervene in the management of schools that repeatedly fail to improve their performance index scores.

"I couldn't help but think they are trying to raise the grades" at Capuchino, said Marian Kong of Millbrae, a tutor who filed the first complaint with the federal agency on behalf of two students and said she has since added four or five similar cases to the list.