Latinos found jobs and cheap housing in a Pennsylvania city but political power has proven elusive

HAZLETON, Pa. (AP) — Latinos seeking jobs and affordable housing have transformed Hazleton, Pennsylvania, in recent decades, but a federal lawsuit argues the way representatives are elected to their local school board is unfairly shutting them out of power.

Nearly two-thirds of students in the Hazleton Area School District are Hispanic, but no Hispanic person has ever been elected to its school board, prompting the court challenge claiming non-Hispanic white voters have employed the district’s “at-large” election system to keep things that way.

Two mothers of children enrolled in the anthracite coal region district sued in February, asking for changes to a system they argue dilutes their voting strength and violates the federal Voting Rights Act and the constitutional right to equal protection of the law.

The district’s 78,000 residents are about 55% white, 40% Hispanic and 5% Black, Asian or multi-racial, according to the lawsuit, with Hispanics concentrated around Hazleton. Hazleton is among several smaller cities in eastern Pennsylvania where Latino populations have grown large enough to have significant impacts on elections, including this year’s hotly contested races for president and U.S. Senate.

The Hazleton board has shown “a significant lack of responsiveness” to the needs of the district’s Hispanic residents, the plaintiffs argued in the lawsuit.

“This includes, but is not limited to, disregard for serious concerns relating to disparate student discipline, student registration procedures founded on unfair stereotypes, inadequate school staffing, lack of qualified translators and lack of effective communication with parents,” according to the lawsuit.

The district requires three separate proofs of address to