4 STUDENTS TO SHARE $300,000 DISCRIMINATION SETTLEMENT DISCLOSED.

Byline: ALEX DOBUZINSKIS Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA -- Four Valencia High School students who sued their public school district alleging racial discrimination will share a $300,000 settlement, according to documents obtained Wednesday by the Daily News.

Officials in the William S. Hart Union High School District, while still denying the district was at fault, also agreed to pay $400,000 for the fees and expenses of the students' attorneys, including the law firm of Gloria Allred.

The agreement prevents those who filed the lawsuit from getting into a public discussion about the case or the settlement, and it also puts limits on what district officials can say.

Under the terms of the settlement, signed in April by the board, details including the cash award were to remain confidential. The Daily News requested the information last week, citing state public-records law.

``It is over, and now we need to move forward,'' said Gloria Mercado--Fortine, a school board member who helped lead a pro-diversity initiative in the district and was specifically exempted from the lawsuit.

Allred, who announced the lawsuit last year at a news conference, declined to comment on the settlement. Among those named in the lawsuit were former Superintendent Robert Lee, Valencia High Principal Paul Priesz and four of five school board members.

The lawsuit was brought by the parents of African-American students Yetunde Alabi, Brandon Carrera, Jatoria Harrison and Bryant Nichols. It accused school district officials of allowing hate and bias against black students at Valencia High, and said four school board members ignored these concerns when they were aired by parents at a November 2004 meeting.

One student stated in the lawsuit that she heard shouts of ``white power'' and ``go back to Africa'' during the lunch hour. Another student reported seeing Confederate flags on notebooks; cars in the parking lot with racist bumper stickers; and swastikas, iron crosses and other racist emblems scrawled on school property.

A student also stated in the suit that he was shoved in the hallways by other students who uttered racial slurs.

Parent Steven Herskovitz was not involved in the lawsuit, but served on an ad-hoc committee to help the district become more open to diversity. The district has had problems in that area -- with few teachers of color and occasional racial conflicts among students, he said.

``There are people out there who don't believe that these things exist in Santa Clarita,'' Herskovitz said. ``We're not the town of Mayberry anymore. We're a racially diverse community, and we have to address those issues.''

The settlement agreement requires that the $300,000 fund created for the four students must be used for their education or therapy.

Legal experts said parties settling a lawsuit commonly agree to muzzle themselves rather than talk to the press.

Sometimes, plaintiffs receive more money for agreeing to keep quiet, said Stephen Yeazell, a professor of law at UCLA.

``The school district wants to get on with business, doesn't want to keep this in the press,'' Yeazell said. ``And the children might have reason why they don't want some of the details of litigation to be in the press either.''

A Hart district official could not be reached for comment on what the district paid its own legal team to handle the lawsuit.

A year ago, the district hired a diversity coordinator. Teachers and other district employees also have been getting training in how to work with an increasingly diverse student population.

``In the end, it will help us improve students' achievement,'' Mercado-Fortine said. ``Because students feel safe, they're comfortable, they're accepted and they feel a lot better.''

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