Carter v. School Board of Arlington County

87 F. Supp. 745, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2119
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Virginia
DecidedDecember 7, 1949
DocketCiv. 331
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 87 F. Supp. 745 (Carter v. School Board of Arlington County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Virginia primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Carter v. School Board of Arlington County, 87 F. Supp. 745, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2119 (E.D. Va. 1949).

Opinion

BRYAN, District Judge.

The complaint here is that in their operation of the public schools the School Board and Superintendent of Schools of Arlington County, Virginia, have discriminated against Negro students by failing to provide them, solely on account of their race or color, with facilities and opportunities for high school education equal to those furnished the white students. It is a class suit — on behalf' of all Negroes of high school age residing in the county' — and jurisdiction of the Federal court is predicated on an averred denial of the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment. Appropriate relief is prayed by way of a decree declaratory of their rights and an injunction restraining a continuance of the alleged deprivations.

This action was commenced on September 4, 1947, but for good cause, on the agreement of the parties, it was continued from time to time and the trial not commenced until September 6, Í949. By the original complaint, as amended October 15, 1947, Constance Carter, the plaintiff, alleged that she was a person of African descent, a resident of Arlington County, State of Virginia, and an infant of school age required by the laws of Virginia to attend the public schools. She charged that in September 1947, being eligible^ to enter, -she sought registration in the high school designated for Negro pupils in Arlington. County and requested enrollment, in addition to the required courses, for the elective courses of Spanish, Civics III, Typewriting and Physical Education, but that she was advised by the principal of the high school that no course in Spanish or Civics III was offered, that typewriting could not be offered because, though machines were available, there were no tables or desks for the purpose, and that no course in physical education was provided. Thereupon, she avers, she applied to the high school in Arlington County set apart for the white children, to take the courses desired by her and then afforded there, but that she was denied admission by reason of her race or color only, pursuant to the mandate of the Constitution and statutes of Virginia segregating the races in the public schools. The defendants, who are the legal authorities for the establishment, maintenance and operation of the public schools in Arlington County, are charged with pursuing, and having over a long period of years pursued, a policy, custom and usage discriminatory against the Negroes, solely on account of their race or color, in providing educational facilities for colored high school pupils in the County.

The defendants deny any difference in the facilities for the white and colored high school children, they deny any discrimination whatsoever, and they especially deny that any disparity in the facilities is due to race or color, or to an intent, purpose or policy of discrimination. They traverse categorically the allegations that Constance Carter was refused any of the courses she sought; they say she was expressly told that the courses mentioned in her inquiry would be taught, and that any other course would be given as and when qualified students required- them.

During the course of the trial Constance Carter married and withdrew from school. With the consent of the defendants, intervention was permitted of two infant colored high school students, Julius Brevard and Peggy Council, both residents of Arlington County, Virginia. Their petition simply nominated the intervenors as specific plaintiffs to prosecute the suit for the class and sets forth their own experiences in unsuccessfully seeking courses of instruction at Hoffman-Boston. Brevard averred that he desired to take auto mechanics in the colored high school but that it was refused him as not offered, although it was available in the high school for white children. Peggy Council says that she asked for courses in Latin, Chemistry and Shorthand Reporting, but that they *747 were not obtainable, although taught in the white high school.

Generally the discrimination is charged in the physical equipment, such as buildings, teaching tools and recreational areas, as well as in the curricular offerings and the qualifications of the instructional staffs. We pass to a consideration of each of them.

Comparative High School Population.

Perhaps the -outstanding fact in this case is that for the last three sessions the white high school has had an average of 1,800 students and the colored high school 26.

There are but two high schools in Arlington County. The white high school is the Washington-Lee High School and the colored is the Hoffman-Boston High School.

Both house junior high school classes in addition to the senior high school, the latter comprising Grades 10, 11 and 12. Hoffman-Boston also includes elementary classes, but the total school population there, for elementary, junior and senior high school, is less than 300. Washington-Lee has no elementary pupils and its total population, junior and senior high school, is about 2,300. These figures are the school populations for the sessions 1946-47 and 1947-48. There was no substantial change in the 1948-49 session in the white school, but for that year the high school at Hoffman-Boston increased, from 12 and 18, in the two prior school years, to 48, of whom 13 were boys and 35 were girls, but during the two previous years there were only 3 boys in high school.

School Plants.

The photographic exhibits placed in evidence are accurate and most informative. Their accuracy was confirmed by a personal inspection by the judge of this court of the buildings, rooms and grounds of each school.

Hoffman-Boston is a two-story brick building erected in 1923 with additional class rooms added in 1930, and a separate temporary structure for elementary classes was put up in 1948. A vocational building, a few yards distant from the main building, was constructed in 1941.

Washington-Lee likewise consists of a brick building and a separate shop building. The main building is of three stories and was put up in 1925. Additions came in 1932 and 1935. The separate shop building was not available until 1942.

Hoffman-Boston has grounds of about 6 acres, for its 300 students, and Washington-Lee has approximately 12 acres for 2,300 pupils. The latter is located in or near the commercial zones of Arlington County (an almost urban county) and consequently is adjacent to streets and business traffic arteries. Hoffman-Boston is in the southern end of the County adjoining the golf links of the Army-Navy Country Club, removed from business and industry, and is sited on an eminence overlooking the Shirley Highway and the approaches to the Pentagon Building and the City of Washington.

The buildings of both schools are in good repair and condition and are well maintained.

Comparative Expenditures.

While it is not a decisive factor because of the great divergence in the population of the two schools, the per pupil expenditures for the two schools is significant in a search for discriminatory neglect.

For the sessions of 1946-47 and 1947-48 more than twice as much was expended, per senior high school student, for teachers’ salaries, in the Hoffman-Boston than in Washington-Lee. During these sessions the amount paid per pupil for the operation and maintenance of Hoffman-Boston was 21/2 or 3 times that for Washington-Lee.

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Related

Commonwealth of Virginia v. United States
386 F. Supp. 1319 (District of Columbia, 1975)
Carter v. School Board of Arlington County, Virginia
182 F.2d 531 (Fourth Circuit, 1950)
Boyer v. Garrett
88 F. Supp. 353 (D. Maryland, 1949)

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Bluebook (online)
87 F. Supp. 745, 1949 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 2119, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/carter-v-school-board-of-arlington-county-vaed-1949.