Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission v. School District

352 A.2d 200, 23 Pa. Commw. 312, 1976 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 872
CourtCommonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
DecidedFebruary 13, 1976
DocketNo. 1056 C.D. 1973
StatusPublished
Cited by17 cases

This text of 352 A.2d 200 (Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission v. School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission v. School District, 352 A.2d 200, 23 Pa. Commw. 312, 1976 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 872 (Pa. Ct. App. 1976).

Opinion

Opinion by

Judge Rogers,

Before us are petitions of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission for enforcement of its order upon the School District of Philadelphia that the latter submit a plan and timetable for the elimination of racial imbalance in the public schools of the City of Philadelphia.

The Commission’s order, which amended an earlier order of the Commission affirmed by us in Philadelphia School District v. Human Relations Commission, 6 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 281, 294 A.2d 410 (1972), reads as follows:

“Amended Final Order
“And Now, this 25th day of September, 1972, pursuant to the Opinion and Order of the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania in The School District of Philadelphia v. Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission (No. 524 Commonwealth Docket, 1971), dated August 17, 1972, and upon consideration of the foregoing Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law and pursuant to Section 9 of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission
[314]*314“Orders
“A. Respondent, The School District of Philadelphia, to develop and submit to the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission by January 2, 1973, for approval by the Commission, a plan and timetable for implementation thereof that will eliminate racial imbalance1 in its schools. Such plan shall conform to the ‘Recommended Elements of a School Desegregation Plan/ dated May 15, 1968, attached hereto and made part hereof with the exception of paragraph four of said ‘Recommended Elements.’
“B. That the plan and timetable for its implementation submitted shall accomplish the following:
1. Elimination of racial imbalance in all vocational-technical schools by the beginning of the school year 1973-74.
2. Elimination of racial imbalance in all senior high schools by the beginning of the school year 1973-74.
3. Elimination of racial imbalance in all junior high schools by the beginning of the school year 1973-74.
4. Elimination of racial imbalance in all middle schools by the beginning of the school year 1973-74.
5. Elimination of racial imbalance in all elementary schools in and by the following steps:
(a) By the beginning of the school year 1973-74, reducing by at least one-third the number of elementary schools with racial imbalance.
[315]*315(b) By the beginning of the school year 1974-75, reducing by at least one-half the remaining number of elementary schools with racial imbalance.
(c) By the beginning of the school year 1975-76, eliminating any remaining racial imbalance in elementary schools.
“C. That the plan and timetable for its implementation submitted shall:
1. Include beginning and completion dates for each desegregation step, together with the projected desegregation results of each step in terms of the number and identity of Respondent’s schools and the number of the Respondent’s pupils changed from a status of racial imbalance to racial balance.
2. Avoid transportation of pupils for lengths of time or distance that risk their health or significantly impinge on their education process. If the results of this stipulation is that racial imbalance will not be corrected in all schools, this plan must include justification acceptable to the Commission for this modification.
3. Not place an undue share of the participation in reassignment or transportation on one racial group.
“D. That any decentralization plan adopted or implemented by Respondent be consistent with this Amended Final Order.
“E. That Respondent shall forthwith cease and desist from opening any new school without a racially-balanced pupil enrollment.
"F. That Respondent in applying for approval of the Pennsylvania Department of Education of any steps in school building projects shall provide the [316]*316Commission with the following data concerning the facility:
1. The location of the building site.
2. Pupil capacity.
3. Attendance area boundaries.
4. Projected enrollment by race.
“G. That Respondent report to the Commission as follows:
1. By February 1 of each year, for as long as the Commission shall require it to comply with this Order, the pupil enrollment by race of each school building in Respondent’s district, on report forms to be provided by the Commission.
2. By June 1 and December 1 of each year, for as long as the Commission shall require it to comply with this Order, a progress status regarding its curricular desegregation programs.
“H. That the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission shall retain jurisdiction in this matter and reserves the right to amend this Amended Final Order from time to time to ensure that the public school enrollment within The School District of Philadelphia will continue to remain racially-balanced.”

As may be supposed, the history of the efforts of the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission to require the School District of Philadelphia to submit a plan and timetable for curing racial imbalance, and the efforts of the District, faced with enormous demographical, geographical, financial, social and political problems, to respond, is long. It begins with our Supreme Court’s decision in Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission v. Chester School District, 427 Pa. 157, 233 A.2d 290 (1967), that the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act, Act of October 27, 1955, P.L. 744, as amended, 43 P.S.§951 et seq. proscribed de facto segregation of black students in the public schools of Pennsylvania, and that the Act em[317]*317powers the Commission to order school districts to cure such conditions. The Commission and the Pennsylvania Department of Public Instruction (now the Department of Education) on May 15, 1968 jointly prepared and thereafter used a document called “Recommended Elements of a School Desegregation Plan” referred to in its Amended Final Order to the District. See Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission v. Norristown Area School District, 20 Pa. Commonwealth Ct. 555, 342 A.2d 464 (1975). The “Recommended Elements” are as follows:

“1. Does the desegregation plan indicate the projected racial composition of each elementary and and secondary school attendance area and the racial composition of the total staff of each building as of the completion dates of each step ?
“2.

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444 A.2d 792 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1982)
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396 A.2d 856 (Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania, 1978)
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Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission v. Norristown Area School District
374 A.2d 671 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1977)
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374 A.2d 671 (Supreme Court of Pennsylvania, 1977)

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Bluebook (online)
352 A.2d 200, 23 Pa. Commw. 312, 1976 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 872, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pennsylvania-human-relations-commission-v-school-district-pacommwct-1976.