San Mateo student transfers probed Peninsula schools Test scores cited as reason in shifts of Chinese pupils

High school senior Leland Lam is seen at Mills High School in Millbrae, CA Monday July 30th, 2012. Leland Lam is one of several Chinese American students who have been denied admission to the school where their families live and have been reassigned to another, lower-performing school nearby. less High school senior Leland Lam is seen at Mills High School in Millbrae, CA Monday July 30th, 2012. Leland Lam is one of several Chinese American students who have been denied admission to the school where their ... more Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Photo: Michael Short, Special To The Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close San Mateo student transfers probed 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

(07-31) 11:52 PDT SAN MATEO -- 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.

Federal probe

The U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights has opened an investigation into whether the district is enforcing proof-of-residency policies selectively against Chinese Americans who live in multifamily homes, or with relatives other than their parents. The investigation began Feb. 29 and such probes normally take six months, a department spokesman said.

The district, which has 8,400 students in its six schools, has denied any improprieties, telling local lawmakers that its policies are even-handed. District officials did not return calls seeking comment.

Test scores

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.

Midyear transfer

That's also what 16-year-old Leland Lam heard from three or four fellow immigrants who had experiences similar to his.

Leland, whose case was first reported by the Chinese-language SF World Journal, spent two years at Mills before the district transferred him to Capuchino about a month into his junior year last fall. He said his parents, who lived in Millbrae, had to move to San Francisco because of health and economic problems and left him in the custody of his aunt, whom they designated as his caregiver.

The aunt lives in Millbrae, but Leland said the district refused to recognize that city as his home, "just because I was in a shared residence." He has no relatives in San Bruno and said district officials hadn't told him why they chose to send him to Capuchino.

After the family made numerous phone calls and asked state Sen. Leland Yee, D-San Francisco, to contact district officials, the youth's aunt became his legal guardian and the district relented. He will return to Mills next month for his senior year and hopes to take classes that weren't available at Capuchino.

"Some other students said the same thing happened to them," Leland said. "They think (the district) wanted to boost Capuchino's scores," an explanation he said he's starting to believe.

Mom's suspicions

Hoi Ki Sin's mother, Eva Kong, is also suspicious of the girl's Capuchino assignment. She emigrated with her daughter, a top student, about 18 months ago from Hong Kong, works as a clerk and lives in Millbrae with her sister, whose name is on the deed to their home in the Mills High neighborhood.

"I think there's a little bit (of) discrimination because we just immigrated ... also because I don't have money to buy a house," said Kong, who is unrelated to Marian Kong. "I wanted the best school for my daughter."

Proof-of-residency policies will affect Chinese immigrants disproportionately, because "you have a lot of houses where multiple families live," said Wayne Lee, a Millbrae city councilman who contacted the district at several families' request.

Lee said he fears his own son, now in elementary school, could someday be affected - the councilman, recently divorced, lives with his parents.

This story has been corrected since it appeared in print editions.