The Everett School District had hoped that a new school year and a new principal would help ease racial tensions at Everett High School, where Latino students and their families last year complained of discriminatory treatment.

Before she started her job in July, Principal Catherine Matthews met with a group of Latino parents to talk about how to meet the needs of their teenagers.

But about a month into the school year, Latino parents plan to file another complaint with the district, saying the school had reassigned a Latina counselor who had advocated for their students and that it had failed to provide adequate translation and interpreting services for parents.

"We thought we were going to have a working committee that met regularly with the principal. We are disappointed that didn't happen," says the complaint, signed by Maria Garcia, Esperanza Medina and other parents. "We are getting tired of having to watch our children not succeed."

Matthews said she's working to improve procedures so non-English-speaking parents can better interact with the school. She defended the reassignment of students to counselors by alphabetical order, saying she wants counselors to be able to work with students from diverse backgrounds.

"We don't have just one other language. We have 37 languages," Matthews said. "It sends the opposite message when you have students assigned by language or culture."

Since taking up leadership of the school, Matthews has organized diversity training for the staff, invited all students to join a new diversity club, contracted with Refugee and Immigrant Services Northwest for translation services and instituted phone lines with recorded school information in five languages.

A school-district spokeswoman said the summer meeting with Latino parents was not meant to be a continuing group.

"[Matthews] welcomes meetings with individual parents," district spokeswoman Gay Campbell wrote in response to an e-mailed question.

But Campbell said Matthews cannot have meaningful discussions in a larger group because of "the constraints of federal law ... which does not allow disclosing anything in a student's records to anyone other than the student and his or her parent."

The complaint, which was being circulated among Latino parents for signatures last week, says notification of a new attendance policy and resulting disciplinary measures were not sent out to families in Spanish. The complaint also says a vice principal's wife had served as a translator in a conference call for a Spanish-speaking parent, which the parents said raised issues of confidentiality.

Matthews said the staff member's wife had translated in an emergency that "couldn't wait" for a professional translator.

The treatment of Latino students at Everett High School was the focus of an independent investigation last spring after a group of Latino parents and students alleged 15 instances of harassment and discriminatory discipline.

An investigator retained by the district concluded in June that while there was no overt discrimination at Everett High, there was a lack of cultural understanding and training among staff members and students. The investigator's report noted that translations hadn't been provided at conferences or meetings for non-English-speaking parents and that the school, which is about 20 percent minority, lacked a plan to promote multicultural awareness.

The report also said that though Latino students felt they had an advocate in the Latina counselor, Lillian Ortiz-Self, her advocacy sometimes created conflict with other staff members when she intervened in disciplinary matters.

Latino students say their parents had developed trust in Ortiz, were comfortable working with her and could raise concerns directly, rather than using a translator.

"Ms. Ortiz knows our families. She knows our issues, in school and out," said Ana Lee Fuentes, a junior at the school and an officer in the Latin Image Club, which was formed to support Latino students.

Pam Piatz, a counselor at Everett High for eight years, said the changes instituted by Matthews this year have been positive. She said lines of responsibility for students are clearer and that translation services are more frequently used.

In preparing to file the most recent complaint, the Latino parents said they hoped to avoid legal action against the district for failing to address the disparity in academic achievement and dropout rates between Hispanics and non- Hispanic whites.

Hispanics lagged significantly behind non-Hispanic white students in the 2005 Washington Assessment of Student Learning. Half of 10th-grade Hispanics at Everett High School met standards in reading and 24 percent in math, compared with 74 percent of non-Hispanic whites who met standards in reading and 44 percent in math. Eight percent of Hispanics met standards in math the previous year, compared with 43 percent for non-Hispanic whites.

Similarly, Hispanic students are more likely to leave school without a diploma. Just 44 percent of Everett High School Hispanic seniors in 2004 graduated within four years, compared with 69 percent of non-Hispanic white students.

Lynn Thompson: 425-745-7807 or lthompson@seattletimes.com