Updated at 11:50 a.m. with district response.
A dozen low-income minority students and their parents have filed suit in federal court to block closure of seven elementary schools in the Sacramento City Unified School District.
Attorney Mark Merin filed the suit late Monday in U.S. District Court in Sacramento on behalf of the students, their guardians and three parent-teacher associations at closing schools. The suit complains the schools designated for closure were chosen because they are in an area "without political influence or organization" - south Sacramento - and have disproportionately low-income and minority populations.
The schools' selection "was motivated by an intent to discriminate against minority populations which dominate in these schools," the suit states. The closures, unless halted, will have a "disastrous discriminatory effect on the poor, disadvantaged population" that relies on the campuses, the suit said.
District Superintendent Jonathan Raymond and Board President Jeff Cuneo called the action "an