Haney ex rel. Haney v. County Board of Education

284 F. Supp. 916, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11760
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedJune 7, 1968
DocketCiv. A. No. 1050
StatusPublished

This text of 284 F. Supp. 916 (Haney ex rel. Haney v. County Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Haney ex rel. Haney v. County Board of Education, 284 F. Supp. 916, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11760 (W.D. Ark. 1968).

Opinion

OPINION

WILLIAMS, District Judge.

On October 2, 1967, Civil Action No. 1050, Texarkana Division was commenced by the named plaintiffs against the County Board of Education of Sevier County, Arkansas, H. Quinton White, County Supervisor of Education of Sevier County, Lockesburg School District No. 16 and Sevier County School District No. 1 in which the named plaintiffs prayed that the defendants be enjoined from maintaining or operating a racially segregated system of public education in Sevier County, Arkansas, from maintaining dual attendance zones for Negro and white students within the geographic area presently covered by Lockesburg School District No. 16 and Sevier County School District No. 1 to require the named defendants to merge the Sevier County School District No. 1 and the Lockesburg School District No. 16, to reorganize the merged school systems on a non-racial basis and to operate the same on a non-racial basis and for their costs and reasonable attorneys’ fees.

On October 30, 1967, the defendant, H. Quinton White, County Supervisor of Education of Sevier County, Arkansas, filed a motion to dismiss Civil Action No. 1050 as a class action for the reason that the plaintiffs do not represent a class. On the same day H. Quinton White filed a separate answer, praying that the complaint be denied as being without merit.

On the same day, October 30, 1967, Sevier County School District No. 1 filed its answer alleging that in the opinion of its School Board the facilities [918]*918and scholastic training offered by the Sevier County School District were and are in many respects superior to that of other school districts in the county, and prayed that the complaint of plaintiffs be denied as without merit.

On the same day, October 30, 1967, the separate answer of the County Board of Education of Sevier County, Arkansas, was filed in which it prayed that the complaint of plaintiffs be denied as without merit.

On November 30, 1967 the separate answer of Lockesburg School District No. 16 was filed. It prayed that the complaint of the plaintiffs be dismissed.

On March 25, 1968 plaintiff filed Request for Admission of Facts. The answer of the defendants to such requests, filed April 3, 1968, revealed among other things that no white students were currently attending school in Sevier School District No. 1 and that no Negro students were currently attending school in Lockesburg School District No. 16.

On April 18, 1968, the case was tried before the Court without a jury, pursuant to Fed.R.Civ.P. Rule 39(b). Only one plaintiff appeared in person. She was represented by Mr. Norman J. Chachkin. The defendant, County Board of Education of Sevier County, the defendant H. Quinton White, County Supervisor of Education of Sevier County, and Sevier County School District No. 1 appeared by its attorney, Mr. John B. Hainen and the defendant, Lockesburg School District No. 16, appeared by its attorney, Mr. Boyd Tackett. Oral testimony of witnesses was taken, and several exhibís showing the geographic limits of school districts in Sevier County, Arkansas were introduced in evidence.

In addition to the maps showing the geographic area of the various school districts in Sevier County, Arkansas, evidence was given by G. P. Bolding, a retired County School Supervisor of Sevier County, by Robert Bishop, the present Superintendent of Schools of the Lockesburg School District, by H. Quinton White, the present County Supervisor of Education of Sevier County, by Lela Mae Haney, the only plaintiff to testify, by Garfield Richardson, a Negro resident of Sevier School District, by Mervin Bell, Secretary of the Sevier County School Board and by A. W. Williamson, a Negro school executive of Sevier County School District. It was stipulated between the parties that a considerable number of Negro patrons and all of the school board members of the Sevier County School District No. 1 were actually present in court, and that each of them would have testified to the same effect as Mervin Bell, the School Board Secretary. The testimony is condensed as follows:

G. P. BOLDING. The presently retired County School Supervisor of Sevier County, who served from 1946 through 1959. When he took office in 1946 there were 23 school districts in Sevier County and segregation of schools was the established policy; that by Initiated Act No. 1 of 1948, school districts with less than 350 enumerated children were required to consolidate with other districts. The County Board had no fixed policy other than to pass on petitions filed before it and to maintain the districts according to the will and majority vote of the people within the school district involved. All factors which in the Board’s opinion had any relation to the maintenance of a good school system were given due consideration. Proximity and geographic location were considered, but were not the sole governing factors.

ROBERT BISHOP. The present School Superintendent of Lockesburg School District No. 16, has served as a School Superintendent for more than 28 years. He has personal knowledge and has compared the Lockesburg School District and the Sevier County School District, both as to physical plants, school facilities, teachers’ qualifications, and other factors that have to do with the quality of a school under existing Arkansas law. In his opinion the Lockesburg School District’s and the Sevier County School District’s physical facilities are at least equal. Sevier County [919]*919School District No. 1 pays its teachers at a higher rate than Loekesburg School District is able to pay. Sevier County School District accepts all pupils regardless of color, and while its pupils are almost totally Negro children, it has had two white children who lived in the district and attended its school. Sevier County School District has indicated that it would and will accept any pupil who requests a transfer to it; while on the other hand the Loekesburg School District does not accept or grant transfers as a school policy.

H. QUINTON WHITE. The present County Supervisor of Sevier County has been serving as such since G. P. Bolding retired in 1959. As School Supervisor he is ex-officio Superintendent of Sevier County School District No. 1, which enumerates less than 350 pupils. He has intimate knowledge of the conditions and facilities of both Sevier School District No. 1 and the Loekesburg School District No. 16, and in his opinion the physical facilities of the Sevier County School District No. 1 are at least equal to those of Loekesburg School District. He considers the teachers of Sevier County School District to have better scholastic background and knows each to be paid at a higher rate than teachers in the Loekesburg School District.

EXHIBITS. Mr. Chachkin, the attorney for the plaintiffs, introduced exhibits including a map showing various school districts in Sevier County, and called attention to the fact that Sevier County School District No. 1 was composed of two areas which are not contiguous.

STIPULATION. It was stipulated that Sevier County School District No. 1 had a $9,000.00 bonded indebtedness while Loekesburg School District No. 16 had a $90,000.00 indebtedness. It was stipulated that Loekesburg School District No. 16 held an election and voted in favor of consolidation with Sevier County School District No. 1, but that Sevier County School District No. 1 had not seen fit to hold an election and intimated that the patrons of the district were overwhelmingly against consolidation.

LELA MAE HANEY. Mrs.

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Related

Plessy v. Ferguson
163 U.S. 537 (Supreme Court, 1896)
Brown v. Board of Education
347 U.S. 483 (Supreme Court, 1954)
Brown v. Board of Education
349 U.S. 294 (Supreme Court, 1955)

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Bluebook (online)
284 F. Supp. 916, 1968 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11760, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/haney-ex-rel-haney-v-county-board-of-education-arwd-1968.