Lee v. Dallas County Board of Education

456 F. Supp. 1164, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19399
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Alabama
DecidedFebruary 23, 1978
DocketCiv. A. No. 5945-70-H
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 456 F. Supp. 1164 (Lee v. Dallas County Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, S.D. Alabama primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lee v. Dallas County Board of Education, 456 F. Supp. 1164, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19399 (S.D. Ala. 1978).

Opinion

HAND, District Judge.

This matter came on for trial before the Court on January 26-27 and February 1-2, 1978, on the government’s motion for enforcement of prior injunctive orders of both this Court and the three-judge panel which previously handled this case. The Court has considered the pleadings, documents and other exhibits introduced at trial, the testimony adduced at trial, and the pre-existing record on file in this matter, along with the applicable law, and finds as follows:

FINDINGS OF FACT

I. Historical Perspective

1. On February 13,1970, the three-judge panel approved the original desegregation plan adopted by the Dallas County Board of Education (hereinafter Board) and ordered that such plan be implemented in time for the 1970-71 school year. (Order of February 13,1970, p. 2 [Hereinafter 1970 Order]). The approval and implementation of the desegregation plan was intended to provide “for the effective and complete disestablishment of [Dallas County’s] dual school system based upon race. (1970 Order, p. 1). This plan has governed the operation and administration of the Dallas County School System for the past eight years.

2. On July 27, 1971, the plaintiffs, the government, and the defendants entered into a consent order by which the Board agreed to “comply with the Court-ordered desegregation plan . . . including the assignment of each student in the school system to the school facility designated in the desegregation plan to serve his or her attendance area and grade level on a nonsegregated, non-discriminatory basis. (Consent Order, July 27, 1971).1

3. On October 22, 1975, a consent decree issued by which the defendant Board was ordered to comply with the rules set down in Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District, 419 F.2d 1211 (5th Cir. 1970), with respect to hiring, firing, promotion, or demotion of teachers within the system.2

4. On July 26, 1977, the government filed a motion for enforcement and modification of injunction, the question presently before the Court, alleging first that the defendant Board has failed to comply with the pre-existing injunctive orders in this case and secondly that the original desegregation plan should be modified, since such plan has failed to fully desegregate the Dallas County School System. By Order of November 10, 1977, the Court denied so much of the motion as requested modifica[1167]*1167tion of the original plan, finding that the validity of the plan had been reaffirmed by the Court’s prior rulings and the order of February 10, 1977, which orders have not been appealed. Therefore, the Court is concerned in this phase of the case only with the government’s allegations that the Board has not complied with the original desegregation plan.

5. There are presently fifteen schools maintained by the defendant Board — three high schools,3 four junior high schools,4 seven elementary schools,5 and one area vocational school.

There are three high school attendance zones. The students residing in the general northeast portion of the county attend Dallas County High School in Planstersville. Those residing in the western sector attend Keith High School in Orrville. Those residing in the southern area attend Southside High School, located just south of Selma. The zone lines are pretty well delineated by the Alabama and Cahaba Rivers.

The junior high facilities are Hazen-Harrell, Shiloh, Tipton, and Brantley, each serving a separate attendance zone. HazenHarrell is in the northwest portion of the county, Brantley is in the eastern portion of the county, and both Tipton and Shiloh are in the southern portion of the county.

Both J. E. Terry and Valley Grande elementary schools are in the northeast portion of the county. Salem and Martin Station elementary schools serve the western and northwestern portions of the county. Five Points, Hunter Mission, and Southside elementary schools serve the southern portion of the county.

Since the 1970 desegregation order three schools have been closed: Tyler Union school in the eastern portion of the county, Westlawn school in the western area and E. M. Brown in the southern area. The evidence before the Court does not reveal that the closing of such schools has impaired the effectiveness of the 1970 plan.6 There have been no other changes in the system since the 1970 order.

II. Zone-Jumping

6. The Board established attendance zones Jn compliance with the 1970 order of the three-judge panel:

The Dallas County Board of Education is ORDERED to establish fixed zone lines for the attendance areas which it designates in its plan as the western, northeastern, and southern zones, and the elementary and junior high school zones within these three attendance areas.

(1970 Order, p. 3). There is no allegation that this order has not been fully complied with, but rather that the Board has failed in its duty to strictly enforce the attendance zone areas.

7. The evidence convincingly establishes that the zone lines have not been strictly enforced by the defendant Board. Testimony before the Court revealed that several children presently residing in the Brantley elementary school zone attend J. E. Terry elementary school,7 and that several children presently residing within the Tipton elementary school zone attend Southside elementary.8 After testimony of such viola[1168]*1168tions had been elicited, the defendant acknowledged that attendance zone lines had been violated and the government, upon the recommendation of the Court, released several other witnesses who purportedly would have testified concerning other instances of violations.9 The testimony did not directly establish that the defendant Board participated in, encouraged, or acquiesced in such violations in each instance, but it is clear that the Board and its agents knew or should have known that zone lines were being crossed by many students.10

8. The technique employed by the Board in the past to prevent such abuses is described by the Superintendent as the “Address Verification Procedure.” There is no written procedure for this, but rather it stems from word-of-mouth instructions emanating from the Superintendent’s office. The procedure requires that the student or his or her parents fill out an address verification card during registration at the commencement of the school year. The principal or other administrative official at the school then checks to make sure that the address on the card is properly within the attendance zone for the school in which the student is attempting to enroll. If the address is properly within the zone, no further inquiry is made; if the address is outside the zone, the child is not allowed to register. No investigation is made to verify that the address given is the address at which the child actually resides.

9. There is a further contention that the Board encourages zone-jumping through its transportation facilities.

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456 F. Supp. 1164, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 19399, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-dallas-county-board-of-education-alsd-1978.