Hill v. County Board of Education of Franklin County, Tenn.

232 F. Supp. 671, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8644
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Tennessee
DecidedJune 23, 1964
DocketCiv. A. 668
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 232 F. Supp. 671 (Hill v. County Board of Education of Franklin County, Tenn.) 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
Hill v. County Board of Education of Franklin County, Tenn., 232 F. Supp. 671, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8644 (E.D. Tenn. 1964).

Opinion

NEESE, District Judge.

This is basically an action to reorganize the tax-supported public schools of Franklin County, Tennessee into a unified nonracial educational system. 28 U.S.C. § 1343(3) and 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The plaintiffs are members of the Caucasian and Negro races, and the defendants are a governmental authority and individual authorities of the tax-supported public school system of Franklin County, Tennessee. The action is brought by the plaintiffs on behalf of themselves and others similarly situated. Hearings on several aspects of the action were conducted by the Court on August 21, September 27 and 30, and December 30 and 31, 1963.

The Franklin County educational system has traditionally deprived Negro children of rights secured to them by the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States. “ * * * Cases involving desegregation, like other cases, depend largely on the facts. While the law has been stated * * * by the Supreme Court, nevertheless, its application depends upon the facts of each particular ease. * * * ‘(T)he formulation of decrees in these eases presents problems of considerable complexity.’ Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 495 [74 S.Ct. 686, 692, 98 L.Ed. 873]. ‘Full implementation of these constitutional principles * * * require solution of varied local school problems. School authorities have the primary responsibility for elucidating, assessing, and solving these problems; courts * * consider whether the action of school authorities constitutes good faith implementation of the governing constitutional principles. * * *

“ ‘In fashioning and effectuating the decrees, the courts will be guided by equitable principles. Traditionally, equity has been characterized by a practical flexibility in shaping its remedies and by a facility for adjusting and reconciling public and private needs.’ Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U.S. 294, 299, 300 [75 S.Ct. 753, 765, 99 L.Ed. 1083]. * * * (A)t stake [is] the personal interest of the [minor] plaintiffs [and those similarly situated] in admission to the public schools as soon as possible on *673 a non-discriminatory basis. * * * (E)ffeetuating this interest may call for elimination of a variety of obstacles in making the transition; * * * courts of equity may properly take into consideration the public interest in the elimination of such obstacles; * * * once a [proper] start is made, the courts may find that additional time is necessary to carry out the ruling in an effective manner.

“ ‘ * * * (A) District Court, after analysis of the relevant factors (which, of course, excludes hostility to racial desegregation), [may] conclude that justification [exists] for not requiring the present nonsegregated admission of all qualified Negro children. In such circumstances, however, the Courts * * * scrutinize the program of the school authorities to make sure that they [have] developed arrangements pointed toward the earliest practical completion of desegregation, and [have] taken appropriate steps to put their program into effective operation. * * * (D)elay in any guise in order to deny the constitutional rights of Negro children [will] not be countenanced * * * only a prompt start, diligently and earnestly pursued, to eliminate racial segregation from the public schools [can] constitute good faith compliance.’ Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1, 7 [78 S.Ct. 1401, 1404, 3 L.Ed.2d 5].

* * * * * *

“ ‘ “It has not been decided that the federal courts are to take over or regulate the public schools * * *. It has not been decided that the [local authorities] must mix persons of different races in the schools or must require them to attend schools or must deprive them of the right of choosing the schools they [must] attend. What * * * has [been] decided, and all that * * * has [been] decided is that [local authorities] may not deny to any person on account of race the right to attend any school that [said local authorities] maintain. This, under the decision of the Supreme Court, * * * [local authorities] may not do directly or indirectly; but if the schools [they maintain] are open to children of all races, no violation of the Constitution is involved even though the children of different races voluntarily attend different schools, as they attend different churches. 1 Nothing in the Constitution or in the decision[s] of the Supreme Court takes away from the people freedom to choose the schools they attend. The Constitution, in other words, does not require integration. It merely forbids discrimination. It does not forbid such segregation as occurs as the result of voluntary action. It merely forbids the use of governmental power to enforce segregation.” * * * Because of the nature of the problems and the local conditions, the school authorities often find that action taken by other school districts is inapplicable to the facts with which they are dealing. * * * [The] free public schools must be maintained and operated as a racially nondiscriminatory system. During the period of transition from a segregated to a nonsegregated system the school authorities must exercise good faith. They must consider the personal rights of all qualified persons to be admitted to the free public schools as soon as practicable on a nondiscriminatory basis. The public interest must be considered along with all the facts and conditions prevalent in the school district. Educational standards should not be lowered. If the school authorities have acted and are proceeding in good faith, their actions should not be set aside by a court so long as their action is consistent with the ultimate establishment of a nondiscriminatory school system at the earliest practicable date.’ Aaron v. Cooper, D.C., 143 F.Supp. 855 at pages 864, 865.” Kelley v. Board of Educ. of City of Nashville, etc., C.A. 6th (1959), 270 F.2d 209, 225-226.

Following extensive hearings on September 27 and 30, the Court ordered the defendants to submit a plan of complete reorganization of their school system on a unified, nonraeial basis by October 31, *674 1963 and allowed the plaintiffs fifteen additional days in which to file objections. Such a plan was submitted on that date, and on November 13, 1963 the plaintiffs specified their objections to the plan. On December 11, 1963, the Court overruled respective motions by both sets of litigants for a summary judgment and set the matter for further hearing on the factors the defendants had considered in adopting the plan which they had submitted. All parties were further ordered to offer evidence and argument on the effect of the Court’s portended ending, in the exercise of its injunctive powers, of segregation in the Kennerly and Sewanee Public Schools earlier than the defendants had proposed in their plan.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
232 F. Supp. 671, 1964 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 8644, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/hill-v-county-board-of-education-of-franklin-county-tenn-tned-1964.