Goss v. Board of Education

320 F. Supp. 549, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11084
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Tennessee
DecidedJuly 1, 1970
DocketCiv. A. No. 3984
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 320 F. Supp. 549 (Goss v. Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Tennessee primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Goss v. Board of Education, 320 F. Supp. 549, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11084 (E.D. Tenn. 1970).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM

ROBERT L. TAYLOR, District Judge.

Plaintiffs seek to dismantle the Knoxville school system and to substitute therefor what they refer to as a unitary system. A unitary school system is one “within which no person is to be effectively excluded from any school because of race or color.” Alexander v. Board of Education, 396 U.S. 19, 20, 90 S.Ct. 29, 30, 24 L.Ed.2d 19; Northcross v. Board of Education, 397 U.S. 232, 237, 90 S.Ct. 891, 25 L.Ed.2d 246 (1970), (concurring opinion).

This litigation has a long history.1 In its present posture, the suit involves a motion by plaintiffs filed November 17, 1969, shortly after the decision in Alexander v. Board of Education, supra, for immediate relief. Preliminary proceedings 2 resulted in an order limiting proof on the merits to specifically alleged discriminatory developments since the last decision in the suit on June 7, 1967. These developments concerned the alleged gerrymandering of neighboi’hood school zone, faculty employment policies, and the policies governing the location of new educational facilities.3

When this suit was instituted on December 11, 1959, the Board of Education had maintained de jure segregation in the schools since 1870. After the mandate in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873 (1954), 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ct. 753, 99 L.Ed. 1083 (1955), the Board had considered some eight plans of integration, without judicial proceedings, but none was adopted. The 1959 plan proposed to the Court was a grade-a-year-plan. One feature of Plan 9 was:

“4. A plan of school zoning or districting based upon the location and capacity (size) of school buildings and the latest enrollment studies without reference to race will be established for the administration of the first grade and other grades as hereafter desegregated.”

These zones were discussed in the Court’s 1960 memorandum.

“In implementation of the Plan filed on April 8, 1960, the Superintendent testified that he instructed his Staff to begin work on a zoning map which was approved at a meeting of the Board on August 6, 1960, just two days before the hearings began. He testified that he instructed his Staff that in the preparation of the map there would be no maneuvering or gerrymandering, that the rezoning and re-establishing of school zones must be based on enrollment studies and on the size and capacity of the buildings. The work was in charge of [551]*551Mr. Frank Marable, Supervisor' of Child Personnel, whose duty it is to check on attendance, school zones and the movement of people.
“On cross-examination, he testified that in preparing the map, efforts were made through the pre-school round-up program and estimates of principals to get estimates of the number of children that would be affected. This zoning plan was confined to the elementary schools and did not include the secondary schools.
“Under detailed cross-examination, Mr. Johnston pointed out that small groups or pockets of Negro homes were scattered throughout the Knoxville City School System in contrast to major concentrations of Negro citizens; that the zone boundaries were often dictated by artificial barriers like heavily traveled streets and also by the size and capacities of school buildings.
•X* * # *x- * *x*
“He testified categorically that no member of his Staff in working on the map had ever operated deliberately to cut out Negro children; and that they tried to work the thing out on a fair basis, depending on the size of the building, shifting population and enrollment.”

On appeal the zones were approved by the Court of Appeals, 301 F.2d 164 (6 Cir. 1962), and the Supreme Court did not grant certiorari on this issue. 371 U.S. 811, 83 S.Ct. 38, 9 L.Ed.2d 53 (1962).

In 1967, this Court stated:

“This brings us to a third issue, namely, whether the Board has operated the plan as modified to promote segregation in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment.
“The items which plaintiffs raised under this issue were many. They contended that the zone lines were made to promote segregation. These lines were in the plans that were approved by this Court and were reviewed by the Sixth Circuit on at least two appeals and presumably were either not attacked or were impliedly approved by the Supreme Court of the United States when it considered and remanded the ease to the Court of Appeals by holding that the transfer plan involving the minority-majority rule was unconstitutional. This day is late for making a claim that the zones are unconstitutional because they promote segregation.
“The Knoxville School System is known as the neighborhood system. The neighborhood school has been approved by various courts, including our own Circuit.
“The great and convincing preponderance of the proof shows that the zones were not made to promote segregation. The effect of the testimony of Dr. Osborne was that the zones were not intentionally gerrymandered, but that in many instances they promoted segregation.
“Doctor Adams stated that the zone lines were designed to fill school buildings * * * ”

The evidence presented at past hearings showed, and the Court finds, that there was no gerrymandering of the zones before 1967. The Board has continued to use the same criteria in establishing zones since 1967. In answers to interrogatories, it stated:

“The major criteria used in drawing up boundaries for school zones [are]:
“(1) Capacity of existing school structure;
“(2) Existing safety hazards in immediate area;
“(3) Physical proximity of students to the school (neighborhood school).”

The Board admitted that zones were reviewed annually and that changes had been made since 1967. Consequently, the Court heard proof to determine if the Board had continued to follow its approved policy.

Doctor Fred Bedelle, Jr., the Assistant Superintendent in Charge of Personnel [552]*552and Development, was the defendant’s only witness. An employee of the defendant since 1963, he recruits and assigns teachers and is in charge of pupil services and assignments. Initially, he explained changes in the elementary schools.4 There was a one block change in the Chilhowee zone in 1967 when a new road was opened. This had no effect on the racial composition of the school in 1967. Chilhowee had 721 white students in 1967. In 1969, 640 white and 42 Negro students attended that school.

In 1967, adjustments were made in the Belle Morris, Brownlow and McCallie zones.

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Bluebook (online)
320 F. Supp. 549, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11084, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/goss-v-board-of-education-tned-1970.