WEST CHESTER TWP. — U.S. Department of Justice officials are offering to mediate a disagreement between Lakota Schools and the NAACP regarding the racial climate in the district.

        The Enquirer has learned that officials from the Department of Justice's (DOJ) Community Relations Service office in Chicago are making the offer in the aftermath of last month's critical letter from a local NAACP chapter to Lakota officials.

        In that letter, NAACP President Gary Hines, a long-time Lakota school parent, claimed the suburban Butler County district has been too slow in improving its racial climate.

        Mr. Hines, whose National Association for the Advancement of Colored People chapter includes Hamilton, Fairfield and West Chester and Liberty townships, made sweeping requests he claimed would improve the racial climate for minorities in the predominantly white district of 15,466 students.

        The DOJ's offer is welcomed by Mr. Hines, whose letter included calls for hiring more black principals and teachers, racial sensitivity training for all district employees, and creating a director of multicultural affairs.

        But Lakota Superintendent Kathleen Klink says the district, the eighth-largest public school system in Ohio, has worked vigorously for years to accommodate all minorities through dozens of racial and cultural programs.

        About 4.8 percent of Lakota students are black.

        She declined to comment directly Thursday, but released a written statement that read, “I'm frustrated that a government office wants to insert itself between a school district and its parents.

        “I haven't seen any information from the Department of Justice and it's premature to assume there is a need for this,” she said.

        Mr. Hines said he is surprised at Ms. Klink's position and that he has not yet heard from her regarding a meeting.

        “I thought by now she would have called me to try to set up something,” said Mr. Hines.

        Patricia Glenn, a senior mediator for the DOJ, is sending an explanation of the DOJ mediation process to Ms. Klink.

        Ms. Glenn said she is not investigating, merely assessing whether the parties want mediation. Any DOJ participation must be voluntarily sought by both parties and is nonbinding. DOJ officials act only in a mediation capacity and have no negotiating powers.

        She said the DOJ's Community Relations Service can act on its own initiative, as it has in this case, and is designed to examine and assist with racial issues “that have community ramifications.”

        The Chicago DOJ office conducts five to 10 such mediations annually, she said.

        Her office has jurisdiction in Ohio and five other Midweststates.

        The next step, should both Lakota and Mr. Hines agree on DOJ participation, would be a joint meeting, said Ms. Glenn.

        “The parties would then be the ones to come to a resolution. I don't decide,” she said.

        Said Mr. Hines: “I think the government will be in this for the right reasons, and it would bring a level of expertise to the process.”

        The NAACP plans to monitor the district's response and issue a preliminary report June 30.

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