Lee v. Washington County Board of Education

456 F. Supp. 1175, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15678, 23 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1459
CourtDistrict Court, S.D. Alabama
DecidedSeptember 6, 1978
DocketCiv. A. 5945-70-H
StatusPublished
Cited by4 cases

This text of 456 F. Supp. 1175 (Lee v. Washington 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. Washington County Board of Education, 456 F. Supp. 1175, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15678, 23 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1459 (S.D. Ala. 1978).

Opinion

HAND, District Judge.

This matter came on for trial before the Court on June 28 and 29, 1978 on the motion for further relief filed by intervenor National Education Association [NEA] on September 16, 1976 as amended on November 17,1977. The Court has considered the pleadings, the record in this matter, the testimony and documentary evidence adduced at trial, and the oral arguments and memoranda of law propounded by counsel for all parties, together with the applicable law, and finds as follows:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. This lawsuit is part of the original state-wide school desegregation litigation, Lee v. Macon County Board of Education, Civil Action No. 604-E (M.D.Ala.). In this phase of the case the Court has been asked by intervenor NEA to review the propriety of certain administrative decisions concerning faculty and staff made by the defendant Washington County Board of Education [Board] and to determine whether the faculty assignment practiced by the Board is in line with the requirements of the January 22, 1970 terminal order of the three judge panel. Tangentially, the government has, in light of evidence adduced at trial and from Board reports, requested that the Court reconsider its order of February 10, 1977 finding that the Washington County School System is unitary and desegregated.

2. There are seven issues presently ripe for consideration:

(a) Whether the terms of the 1970 terminal order have been complied with;

(b) Whether Rubye Nelson was denied her constitutional rights when she was not offered a summer teaching position in 1977;

(c) Whether the Board unlawfully discriminated against Brenda Fancher with respect to the termination of her employment at the close of the 1976-77 school year;

(d) Whether Vera Breech was unlawfully passed over for a promotion by reason of her race;

(e) Whether the Board was guilty of racial discrimination in the hiring of three new principals prior to the 1976 — 77 school year;

(f) Whether the Board engages in racially discriminatory employment practices; and

(g) Whether this Court’s order of February 10, 1977 ought to be reconsidered. For purposes of clarity, the Court will enter separate Findings with respect to each issue raised by the intervenor and the government.

A. Faculty Assignment

3. The terminal order entered by the three judge panel on January 22, 1970, contained the following language:

The school board shall announce and implement the following policies: a. Effective not later than the commencement of the 1970-71 school year the principals, teachers, teacher-aides, and other staff members who work directly with children at a school shall be so assigned that in no case will the racial composition of a staff indicate that a school is intended for Negro students or white students. The Washington County School Board shall assign the teaching staff as above described so that the ratio of Negro to white teachers in each school, and the Negro-to-white ratio of other staff members in each school, are substantially the same as each such ratio is for the teachers and other staff members in the entire system .

4. Intervenor’s Exhibits 6, 7, and 28 reveal the faculty assignment figures at Washington County schools for the school *1178 years 1970-71 to 1977-78. The figures are set out in the attached chart, infra, identified as attachment “1”. It is readily apparent from these figures that the Board has never complied with the faculty assignment provisions of the 1970 terminal order, and that such compliance must be required.

B. Selection of the 1977 Summer School Personnel

5. Rubye Nelson, a black teacher, has contested the selection process employed by the Board for the hiring of teachers for the 1977 summer school term held at McIntosh High School. Her contention is that although she was one of the first to apply for a position and had qualifications superior to most others, she was denied employment in the program in favor of less qualified and more inexperienced white teachers.

6. The McIntosh program is no longer operated, but it did exist for three summers between 1975 and 1977. This was a federally funded Title I program aimed primarily at remedial reading and math at the seventh and eighth grade levels. The program lasted six weeks each summer.

7. The Board’s policy for selection of teachers for the summer program was to act upon recommendations received by the principal of McIntosh High School. The principal at the close of the 1976-77 school year was Larry Tillman, who- is white. In order to receive applications for the positions available, Tillman asked for volunteers among the teachers at McIntosh High School, and posted a list in the school’s office. This request produced seven volunteers, four blacks and three whites. The black teachers were Myrtle Ferrell, Georgeianne Brown, Rubye Nelson, and Napoleon Reed; the white teachers were Otis James, Cathy Daughtery, and Tina Lane.

Tillman determined that he needed two math teachers and two english teachers to adequately provide the educational services mandated by the program. The applicants with a math background were Ferrell, Lane, and Reed, while those with an english background were Ferrell, James, Brown, Nelson, and Daughtery. On this basis, Tillman offered math positions to Ferrell and Reed, and english positions to James and Daughtery. Reed rejected the offer so the second math position went to Lane. Thus, there were three whites and one black in the summer school teaching corps. 1 The Board accepted the decision by the principal and these appointments were ultimately made.

8. The institutional records (defendant’s Exhibit 20) with respect to Rubye Nelson revealed that she is a black female 33 or 34 years of age with twelve years experience with the Board. She possesses a AA certificate 2 that expires in 1986. Her experience included 30 hours teaching library science and 18 hours of english teaching.

The same records reflect that Cathy Daughtery is a 30 or 31 year old white female with five years experience with the Board. She has a. rank 2 certificate 3 which expires this year. Her experience consisted of 18 hours of english teaching.

The record reflects that Myrtle Ferrell is a 50 or 51 year old black female with twenty-nine years experience with the Board. She possesses a rank 2 certificate which will expire in 1979. Her experience consisted of 30 hours of Title I teaching.

The record reflects that Georgeianne Brown is a 33 or 34 year old black female with seven years experience with the Board. She possesses a rank 2 certificate that will expire in 1982. Her experience consists of 30 hours of english teaching.

*1179 The record reflects that Otis James is a 32 or 33 year old white male with nine years experience with the Board. He possesses a rank 2 certificate that will expire in 1983.

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

Related

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
456 F. Supp. 1175, 1978 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 15678, 23 Fair Empl. Prac. Cas. (BNA) 1459, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lee-v-washington-county-board-of-education-alsd-1978.