Purple Line alignment

Re “Students vs. the Purple Line,” editorial, Oct. 12

How disappointing to see The Times Editorial Board take the side of self-serving public officials over the Beverly Hills High School students who recently walked out of their classes over the health and safety risks of the Metro Purple Line extension underneath their school.

The editorial is wrong that the district is losing its battle in court.

In 2016, a federal judge determined that the Federal Transit Administration failed to perform a thorough scientific analysis of the environmental impacts of the tunnel or properly consider alternative routes; he ordered the agency to conduct a supplemental environmental review. We believe that review is also flawed because, among other reasons, it relied on pretextual bases in declining to adopt an alternative alignment and construction staging area that would not interfere at all with Beverly Hills High School.

Accordingly, the Beverly Hills Unified School District filed a suit earlier this year challenging the subway alignment and the location of the construction staging area. This federal case is still proceeding, and last month the judge called for court disclosures that we believe will confirm Metro ignored more reasonable routes and staging area locations.

It is a shame that the editorial board could not support local high school students fighting for their health and safety by exercising their free speech rights. Lisa Korbatov Michael Bregy

Beverly Hills Korbatov is president of the Beverly Hills Board of Education; Bregy is superintendent of the Beverly Hills Unified School District.