 
| The Case - Otero vs. MCVSDNine Mexican-American school children who attended schools located in the Mesa County Valley School District #51 Colorado charged the school district of having a recriminatory educational system that adversely affected their education. Specifically, the plaintiffs alleged that the MCVSD discriminated against Mexican-American students on the basis of race and national origin. They alleged that this discrimination existed both in the curriculum offered to students and in regards to employment practices (e.g. certificated and classified staff). They cited a violation of the Fourteenth Amendment Title Vi of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Equal Educational Opportunities Act of 1974.Their claim was based on the allegation that all nine plaintiffs dropped out of school at some point in their educational career due to the discriminatory practices of MCVSD. They claimed that the curriculum and culture of the school was oriented toward the dominant Anglo student group and thereby denied them of equal opportunities. Their main argument was that the plaintiffs did not adequately understand English and therefore could not be expected to succeed in an English-only school and that MCVSD did make good faith efforts to modify the curriculum for their needs. Additionally, they claimed that MCVSD did not make good faith efforts to hire Mexican-American employees. In 1975 the court ruled that the students had no right, under the 14th amendment, to bilingual education nor the right to ridicule the hiring practices of the school. The Lau-Serna Doctrine of 1973 couldn’t be used because there wasn’t a significant number of Mexican-American students with substantial English language problems An appeal in 1977 was denied because there was no proof that the hiring practices that restricted delivery of curriculum had any adverse effect on student performance This ruling resulted in no new laws, and opposed the US vs TX 1971 decision that blamed the educational failure of students on the inadequacies of school programs rather than on students themselves; this decision puts the blame of educational failure back on the students. |
