Conley v. Lake Charles School Board

314 F. Supp. 1282, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11368
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Louisiana
DecidedJune 11, 1970
DocketCiv. A. No. 9981
StatusPublished

This text of 314 F. Supp. 1282 (Conley v. Lake Charles School Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Conley v. Lake Charles School Board, 314 F. Supp. 1282, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11368 (W.D. La. 1970).

Opinion

HUNTER, District Judge:

This case was included with the other Louisiana school cases decided by the Fifth Circuit sub nom. Hall v. St. Helena Parish School Board, 417 F.2d 801 (May 28, 1969). Upon remand, this Court directed the School Board to confer with the Office of Education of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (“HEW”) to develop a new desegregation plan. On July 5, 1969, the School Board filed a new plan and HEW filed a completely different plan.

[1283]*1283On July £1,1969, a hearing was held at which the School Board presented testimony in opposition to the HEW plan and Dr. A. T. Miller, the HEW representative in charge of drawing the plan for Calcasieu Parish, testified in support of the HEW plan. The Court ruled from the bench that the Board’s plan was inadequate and on July 22, 1969, the Board filed an amended and substantially different plan, adopting a system of geographic zoning of elementary schools in the city of Lake Charles. The Board’s plan was approved by the Court on July 24, 1969.

After the opening of the 1969-70 school year, the Board filed a report disclosing the results achieved under its desegregation plan.

On March 11, 1970, plaintiffs filed a motion for further relief seeking an order requiring the School Board to implement the HEW plan beginning with the school year 1970-71. On March 18, 1970, the School Board filed a plan of zoning of junior and senior high schools in Lake Charles which it proposes to implement for the beginning of the school year 1970-71. A hearing was held on April 14, 1970, at which school officials testified in favor of the School Board plan and in opposition to the HEW plan. The Court concludes that the plan presented by the Board at the hearing does not convert the Calcasieu Parish School System to a unitary one within the meanings of the Supreme Court decisions in Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education, 396 U.S. 19, 90 S.Ct. 29, 24 L.Ed.2d 19; Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 20 L.Ed.2d 716; and the decision of the Fifth Circuit in Ellis v. Orange County (1970).

The criteria used by the Board in establishing their zone lines — considering man-made and natural boundaries — precludes that plan from coming within the purview of a true “neighborhood system,” as defined in Ellis v. Board of Public Instruction of Orange County, Florida, 423 F.2d 203 (5th Cir., February 17,1970). In that decision the Court said:

“[T]he neighborhood system, based on school capacity, must be observed without exception. This will prevent any variance based on traffic conditions * * * or by zone line locations * *. Variances by arbitrary zone lines, or for reasons of traffic, while reasonable on their face may destroy the integrity and the stability of the entire assignment plan. If Orange County wishes to maintain a neighborhood assignment system, then it must do so without variances. Each student in the system must be assigned to attend the school nearest his or her home, limited only by the capacity of the school, and then to the next nearest school. Id. at p. 207. (Emphasis added.)

In a parallel case involving the City of Monroe, Louisiana, attendance zone lines based upon the same criteria as those used in Lake Charles and producing similar results were held unacceptable by the Court of Appeals.

In Green (supra), the mechanics of what must be done to bring about a unitary system were detailed. They were stated in terms of eliminating the racial identification of the schools in six particulars: composition of student bodies, faculty, staff, transportation, extra-curricular activities, and facilities. 391 U.S. at 435, 88 S.Ct. 1689.

All district courts have been mandated to put in effect for the 1970-71 school year the pertinent provisions of Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District relating to faculty, staff, transportation, extra-curricular activities, facilities and transfer. 419 F.2d 1211. Accordingly, it is ordered that the School Board shall announce and continue to implement for 1970-71 the following policies:

DESEGREGATION OF FACULTY AND OTHER STAFF

1. For the 1970-71 school year, the principals, teachers, teacher-aides and other staff who work directly with [1284]*1284children at a school shall be so assigned that in no case will the racial composition of a staff indicate that a school is intended for black students or white students. The district shall assign the staff described above so that the ratio of black to white teachers in each school, and the ratio of other staff in each, are substantially the same as each such ratio is to the teachers and other staff, respectively, in the entire school system.

The school district shall, to the extent necessary to carry out this desegregation plan, direct members of its staff as a condition of continued employment to accept new assignments.

2. Thereafter, staff members who work directly with children, and professional staff who work on the administrative level will be hired, assigned, promoted, paid, demoted, dismissed, and otherwise treated without regard to race, color, or national origin.

3. If there is to be a reduction in the number of principals, teachers, teacher-aides, or other professional staff employed by the school district which will result in a dismissal or demotion of any such staff members, the staff member to be dismissed or demoted must be selected on the basis of objective and reasonable non-discriminatory standards from among all the staff of the school district. In addition if there is any such dismissal or demotion, no staff vacancy may be filled through recruitment of a person of a race, color, or national origin different from that of the individual dismissed or demoted, until each displaced staff member who is qualified has had an opportunity to fill the vacancy and has failed to accept an offer to do so.

Prior to such a reduction, the school board will develop or require the development of non-racial objective criteria to be used in selecting the staff member who is to be dismissed or demoted. These criteria shall be available for public inspection and shall be retained by the school district. The school district also shall record and preserve the evaluation of staff members under the criteria. Such evaluation shall be made available upon request to the dismissed or demoted employee.

“Demotion” as used above includes any re-assignment (1) under which the staff member receives less pay or has less responsibility than under the assignment he held previously, (2) which requires a lesser degree of skill than did the assignment he held previously, or (3) under which the staff member is asked to teach a subject or grade other than one for which he is certified or for which he has had substantial experience within a reasonably current period. In general and depending upon the subject matter involved, five years is such a reasonable period.

MAJORITY TO MINORITY TRANSFER POLICY

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Related

Green v. County School Board of New Kent County
391 U.S. 430 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co.
392 U.S. 409 (Supreme Court, 1968)
Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education
396 U.S. 19 (Supreme Court, 1969)
Northcross v. Board of Ed. of Memphis City Schools
397 U.S. 232 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Hall v. St. Helena Parish School Board
417 F.2d 801 (Fifth Circuit, 1969)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
314 F. Supp. 1282, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11368, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/conley-v-lake-charles-school-board-lawd-1970.