The Delores Huerta Foundation's lawsuit against the Kern High School District was successful because the district caved in to the pressure and in a sense admitted it targeted minority students for suspensions and expulsions. I'm a substitute teacher with a California teaching credential who has worked on every campus in the district for the last eight years. One of my assignments was teaching students serving in-school suspensions. I've done this at six different high schools.

Attorneys for the Foundation drew their conclusions from statistical information and interviews from "targeted students" and their families. Let me give you a perspective from somebody who is in the game. I, along with seven different deans, dealt with defiant students about 2 percent of the overall population.

Students at some schools come to my class with schoolwork knowing they will sit for six periods, have three supervised restroom breaks and eat lunch together. One girl referred to ISS as being on "lockdown." That's the feeling the dean wants them to have.

Students at other schools, under the same restrictions, show up with no schoolwork. One dean gave me educational packets with essays, questions and word puzzles. I would give one to each student and 98 percent of the time I got this reaction: "I'm on lockdown, you can keep your packet." I don't believe we have an administrative problem, Ms. Huerta. I see a motivational issue with how some students view their education.

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Letter to the editor: It's motivation, not administration - The Bakersfield Californian