Mannings v. School Board of Hillsborough County

151 F.R.D. 133, 1993 WL 316669
Procedural entryThis page is a short order in Mannings v. School Board of Hillsborough County. Read the opinion of the Court — 796 F. Supp. 1491
District Court, M.D. Florida·Decided August 16, 1993·No. No. 58-3554-Civ-T-17A·Published

Opinion

ORDER DENYING MOTION TO INTERVENE

KOVACHEVICH, District Judge.

Before this Court for consideration is Proposed Intervenors’, NORMAN EDWIN ARMSTRONG, JR., BRYAN TYLER ARMSTRONG, CARLTON LEWIS, EMANUEL LEWIS, ROBERT JOHN BURR, CHERYL ANN BURR, STEVEN JONATHAN BURR, DANIEL RENEE BURR, ARCHIE LEE McRAE, MAUREEN ELROD McRAE AND AMEER McRAE, (hereinafter “Proposed Intervenors”) Motion To Intervene (Docket No. 489), as well as Plaintiffs’ and Defendants’ responses to the Proposed Intervenors’ motion. (Docket Nos. 498 and 499)

I. FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL HISTORY

The Proposed Intervenors are children and parents who reside in the Timberlane subdivision of that part of the City of Tampa known as Town and Country. Proposed In-tervenors assert that they are, or will be, directly affected by the implementation of this Court’s Consent Order adopting the stipulations of the Plaintiffs and Defendants in this matter, also known as the Middle School Task Force Report (Hereinafter “Task Force Report”).

In order to prevent the implementation of the Task Force Report, Proposed Interve-nors have undertaken a concerted course of action. This course of action included the filing of state court and administrative proceedings alleging various theories and seeking to prevent the implementation of new student assignments contemplated in the Task Force Report. When this Court enjoined the Proposed Intervenors from continuing with their state actions, because such proceedings interfered with this Court’s jurisdiction, the Proposed Intervenors sought to intervene and become parties to this litigation.

The Proposed Intervenors have stated a prima facie claim for intervention as matter of right in this litigation pursuant to F.R.C.P. 24(a)(2). The Proposed Intervenors state that they have an interest in the goal of a unitary school system; that this interest gives them a direct, substantial, and legally protectable interest in this proceeding; that they are so situated that the disposition of this matter may impair the Proposed Inter-venors’ ability to protect that interest; and that the Proposed Intervenors’ interests are not adequately represented by the existing parties. Further, Proposed Intervenors assert that the Task Force Report frustrates the goal of a unitary school system. Thus, the Proposed Intervenors oppose the implementation of the Task Force Report as it is currently structured.

Because this Court, and this Circuit, have long recognized the intense interest of parents in the education of their children, this Court granted the Proposed Intervenors’ motion for evidentiary hearing regarding their motion for intervention. The sole purpose of the hearing was to allow the Proposed Inter-venors a chance to present evidence to prove that their intervention in this matter is appropriate under the law.

The evidentiary hearing commenced on July 20, 1993 and concluded on August 4, 1993. Although Proposed Intervenors were originally allotted one hour for this hearing, this Court allowed the Proposed Intervenors’ presentation of evidence to extend, all tolled, approximately three hours. Proposed Inter-venors brought forth three witnesses, one expert in land use planning, and two parents of children who will be directly affected by the implementation of the Task Force Report. The Defendants and Plaintiffs were [135]*135allowed to cross-examine the Proposed Inter-venors’ witnesses. Further, although both the Plaintiffs and Defendants were each allotted half an hour to present evidence in opposition to the Proposed Intervenors’ motion to intervene, neither party brought forth any evidence. After the Proposed Interve-nors finished their presentation of evidence, all parties were allowed to make their arguments to this Court, based on the evidence presented.

Thus, the Proposed Intervenors have had a fair and exhaustive opportunity to be heard and to present evidence of their claimed right to intervene. This Court, after careful consideration of that evidence, hereby DENIES the Proposed Intervenors’ Motion To Intervene based upon the following reasoning.

II. DISCUSSION

Proposed Intervenors seek to intervene in this case as a matter of right pursuant to F.R.C.P. 24(a)(2), and have stated a prima facie claim for intervention under that rule. However, the former Fifth Circuit, now the Eleventh Circuit, has previously held that proposed intervenors/parents do not necessarily have a right to intervention in school board desegregation cases. See United States v. Perry County School Bd. of Education, 567 F.2d 277, 279 (5th Cir.1978). This Circuit has declined to follow the broad approach to intervention approved by other jurisdictions in school board desegregation cases, and has instead developed a specific standard by which district courts may permit intervention of parents. Id. See also Bradley v. Pinellas County School Board, 961 F.2d 1554, 1556 (11th Cir.1992) (quoting Hines v. Rapides Parish School Board, 479 F.2d 762 (5th Cir.1973)).

The only parental interest that justifies permissive intervention in a school board desegregation case is an interest in a desegregated, or unitary, school system. Bradley, 961 F.2d at 1566. Further, in order for proposed intervenors to meet the Eleventh Circuit test for permissive intervention, the proposed intervenors must set forth the precise issues which they seek to represent and the ways in which the goal of a unitary system has allegedly been frustrated. The proposed intervenors must also show that the issues they seek to present either have not been raised and resolved by the existing parties, or that the issues were not known to the court and the existing parties prior to the proposed intervenors’ motion. Bradley, 961 F.2d at 1566.

During the evidentiary hearing, the Proposed Intervenors asserted that the goal of a unitary school system is frustrated by the Task Force Report in three ways. According to the Proposed Intervenors, the goal of a unitary school system is frustrated by the Task Force Report because its plan for school desegregation: (i) transports students out of naturally integrated communities to schools in other communities; (ii) prevents black students from ever attaining a majority of the student population in schools located in predominantly black communities; and (iii) bases pupil assignments solely on the race of the student, categorizing students either as black or white. Further, the Proposed In-tervenors maintained that the existing parties neither represented their interests, nor had considered the issues they sought to pursue in the litigation.

A UNITARY SCHOOL SYSTEM

The legal definition of “unitary” as it pertains to school systems is not a precise concept with a fixed meaning. Freeman v. Pitts, — U.S. -, -, 112 S.Ct. 1430, 1434, 118 L.Ed.2d 108 (1992).

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Mannings v. School Board of Hillsborough County, 151 F.R.D. 133, 1993 WL 316669 (M.D. Fla. 1993).

151 F.R.D. 133 (Mannings v. School Board of Hillsborough County) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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