Jeffers v. Whitley

197 F. Supp. 84, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3464
CourtDistrict Court, M.D. North Carolina
DecidedAugust 4, 1961
Docket1:07-m-00032
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 197 F. Supp. 84 (Jeffers v. Whitley) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, M.D. North Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Jeffers v. Whitley, 197 F. Supp. 84, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3464 (M.D.N.C. 1961).

Opinion

EDWIN M. STANLEY, Chief Judge.

This action was commenced on December 10, 1956, by twenty-three adult plaintiffs, individually and as parents and next friends of forty-three minor plaintiffs, on behalf of themselves and all other citizens and residents of Cas-well County, North Carolina, similarly *86 situated. All plaintiffs are members of the Negro race. Named defendants were the Superintendent of the Public Schools of Caswell County, the individual members of the Caswell County School Board, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction, and the individual members of the State Board of Education. In an opinion filed September 12, 1958, it was ruled that the motion of the plaintiffs for leave to file supplemental complaint, alleging that they had exhausted all administrative remedies under the North Carolina laws relating to the enrollment and assignment of pupils without obtaining the relief sought, should be granted, and that the action should be dismissed as to the State Superintendent of Public Instruction and the individual members of the State Board of Education. Jeffers v. Whitley, D.C. M.D.N.C.1958, 165 F.Supp. 951. The earlier history of this litigation, including the allegations in the proposed supplemental complaint, may be found in that opinion.

In its answer to the supplemental complaint, the defendant Board alleged that on July 16, 1957, following the assignment of pupils to the Caswell County public schools for the 1957-1958 school year, the plaintiffs in apt time applied for reassignment to other schools; that the defendant Board denied each request for reassignment; that the plaintiffs thereafter timely filed requests for a hearing pursuant to the provisions of the state statutes relating to the enrollment and assignment of pupils; that the plaintiffs were duly notified that the requested hearings would be held on February 3, 1957; and that the defendant Board met on said date for the purpose of conducting said hearings, but that due to the fact that neither of the plaintiffs, nor anyone representing them, appeared at said hearings, same were not held.

Following the submission of interrogatories to the defendants, and the filing of certain stipulations, the plaintiffs, on October 19, 1959, moved the court for a stay of the proceedings for the purpose of allowing them an opportunity to exhaust their administrative remedies in the manner prescribed in McKissick v. Durham City Board of Education, D.C.M.D.N.C.1959, 176 F.Supp. 3. As a reason for said motion, the plaintiffs alleged that at the time they pursued their administrative remedies before the defendant Board the court had not decided the McKissick case and the case of Holt v. Raleigh City Board of Education, D.C.E.D.N.C.1958, 164 F. Supp. 853, affirmed 4 Cir., 1959, 265 F.2d 95 certiorari denied 1959, 361 U.S. 818, 80 S.Ct. 59, 4 L.Ed.2d 63, holding that it was necessary for applicants for reassignment to personally appear at hearings conducted by School Boards.

Prior to a ruling on plaintiffs’ motion to stay proceedings, the parties, on October 27, 1959, stipulated that counsel for the plaintiffs would submit to the defendant Board, not later than March 1, 1960, the names and addresses of all the original plaintiffs who were still attending the public schools of Caswell County and who still desired reassignment to another school; that such plaintiffs would be notified at the end of the 1959- 1960 school year as to the schools to which they had been assigned for the 1960- 1961 school year; that such of said plaintiffs still desiring reassignment to another school would timely file an application for reassignment with the defendant Board; that the defendant Board would meet within ten days thereafter and consider any such requests for reassignment; and that if any requests for reassignment were denied and a hearing was desired, such hearing would be held within ten days.

An order was entered on J uly 22, 1960, granting the motion of the plaintiffs for leave to file a second supplemental complaint alleging that nine of the original minor plaintiffs had been assigned to all Negro schools for the 1960-1961 school year, and that after the exhaustion of their administrative remedies their applications for reassignment had been denied.

The case was tried by the court without a jury on November 3, 1960. At the *87 conclusion of the trial, the court gave the parties a specified time within which to file proposed findings of fact, conclusions of law, and briefs, after which oral arguments would be heard.

The requests for findings of fact, conclusions of law, and briefs of the parties having been received, the court, after considering the pleadings and evidence, including exhibits, answers to interrogatories and stipulations filed, and briefs and oral arguments of the parties, now makes and files herein its Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law, separately stated:

Findings of Fact

1. At all times pertinent, the minor plaintiffs still interested in this litigation were citizens and residents of Cas-well County, North Carolina, and each possessed all necessary qualifications for admission to the public schools of Caswell County.

2. The defendant Board maintains and generally supervises the operation of the public schools of Caswell County, and in the operation of said schools possesses such powers as are conferred by Chapter 115 of the General Statutes of North Carolina.

3. The defendant Board operates and maintains five elementary schools and one consolidated elementary and high school attended exclusively by Negro students, and five elementary schools and four consolidated elementary and high schools attended exclusively by white students.

4. Approximately six thousand pupils are enrolled in the Caswell County public schools, about fifty-three per cent of whom are Negroes and forty-seven per cent of whom are whites.

5. Some of the plaintiffs have made repeated efforts since 1955 to prevail upon the defendant Board to desegregate its public schools of Caswell County, but these efforts have been without success.

6. At the end of the 1959-1960 school year, sixteen of the original minor plaintiffs were still attending the public schools of Caswell County, and on May 31, 1960, all were assigned, by notification on their respective report cards, to all Negro schools for the 1960-1961 school year.

7. By stipulation of counsel for the plaintiffs and the defendants, it was agreed that the court in the final disposition of this case would only consider those minor plaintiffs who timely filed an application with the defendant Board for reassignment to another school for the 1960-1961 school year.

8. On June 9, 1960,, applications for reassignment to schools previously attended solely by white students were timely filed on behalf of nine of the original forty-three minor plaintiffs, namely: Samuel Maloy Mitchell, Charlie Jeffers, Alexander Jeffers, Sylveen Jeffers, Nathan Brown, Lunsford Brown, She-Iiah Brown, Charlie Saunders, Jr., Fred Saunders. Except for Charlie Saunders, Jr. and Fred Saunders, it was requested that each of said minor plaintiffs be transferred from the Caswell County Training School, a school attended solely by Negro students, to Bartlett Yancey School, a school attended solely by white students. With respect to Charlie Saunders, Jr.

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Related

Goosby v. Osser
409 U.S. 512 (Supreme Court, 1973)
Jeffers v. Whitley
309 F.2d 621 (Fourth Circuit, 1962)

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Bluebook (online)
197 F. Supp. 84, 1961 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3464, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/jeffers-v-whitley-ncmd-1961.