Quality Education for All Children, Inc. v. School Board of School District 205

385 F. Supp. 803, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7851
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Illinois
DecidedJune 27, 1974
Docket70 C 16
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 385 F. Supp. 803 (Quality Education for All Children, Inc. v. School Board of School District 205) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Illinois primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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Quality Education for All Children, Inc. v. School Board of School District 205, 385 F. Supp. 803, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7851 (N.D. Ill. 1974).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

BAUER, District Judge.

This cause comes on the submission by the respective parties of their various proposals for school desegregation.

The named plaintiffs are all citizens of the United States and residents of School District #205 of Winnebago County, Illinois. Some of the named plaintiffs are individuals while others are community organizations which are allegedly voluntary associations of citizens, most of whom are also citizens of the school district and taxpayers of the State of Illinois. The defendant is the School Board of School District #205 of the Winnebago County Schools, State of Illinois.

On January 4, 1974 this Court allowed the parents of certain school children attending school in School District #205 to intervene in these proceedings as self *805 styled defendant-intervenors. On February 15, 1974, the Rockford Education Association, Inc. (“REA”), which is the teachers’ union for the school district, was allowed to intervene in this litigation as a defendant.

The instant suit is a class action, brought by the plaintiffs (qua individual taxpayers and voluntary associations) on behalf of other residents and taxpayers similarly situated in School District #205 of Winnebago County, State of Illinois (“School District”), pursuant to Rule 23(a) and Rule 23(b)(2), Federal Rules of Civil Procedure. The class represented by the named plaintiffs allegedly consists of all residents of the School District including both black and white citizens. 1

The instant suit seeks to redress the alleged deprivation of the plaintiffs’ civil rights by the alleged racial discrimination and imbalanced educational opportunities existing in the defendant School District in violation of the Tenth, Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution. See Quality Education for All Children, Inc. et al. v. School Board of School District #205 of Winnebago County, Illinois, 362 F.Supp. 985 (N.D.Ill.1973). This Court allegedly has jurisdiction over the instant action pursuant to 42 U.S.C. § 1981.

This Court in its Memorandum Opinion and Order dated August 16, 1973 clearly explicated the relevant facts which strongly suggest a problem of minority isolation in the School District. See Quality Education for All Children, Inc. et al. v. School Board of School District #205 of Winnebago County, Illinois, supra. It was clear that the School District failed to comply with state standards relating to minority integration. 2 This Court’s Memorandum Opinion and Order dated August 16, 1973 contains, inter alia, the following facts which are important to the proper evaluation of any school desegregation program:

1. Minority Isolation.

Minority enrollment in the School District is approximately 15% (6,233 out of 41,364 students). In the school year of 1971-72, there were a total of 5,362 minority students in the School District and 2,386 (44.4%) of those minority students were attending schools in which minority attendance exceeded 50% of the enrollment. From figures submitted by the School Board it was projected that these statistics would increase in the school year 1973-74 to 6,233 minority students, 2,758 (44.2%) in schools which have 50% or more minority attendance 3 enrollment. 4 Table 1, from the Order of August 16, 1973, *806 summarizes these statistics in noncomplying schools for the year 1972-73 and the projection for the following school year. 5
TABLE 1
MINORITY ENROLLMENT IN NON-COMPLYING SCHOOLS
School Year 1972-73 School Year 1973-74
School Total enrollment No. of minority students % of minority enrollment Total enrollment No. of minority students % of minority enrollment
Barbour 431 317 73.5 431 317 73.5
Beyer 355 137 38.5 355 137 38.5
Dennis 400 370 92.5 400 370 92.5
Ellis 435 343 78.8 408 316 77.4
Haskell 432 285 65.9 432 284 65.7
Henrietta 178 136 76.4 178 132 74.1
Lathrop 305 219 71.8 305 319 71.8
Lincoln Pk. 532 299 56.2 532 299 56.2
McIntosh 459 171 37.2 459 171 37.2
Muldoon (to be closed '73 — '74) 290 226 77.9 290 226 77.9
Rock River 456 195 42.7 456 195 42.7
Washington 579 350 60.4 579 350 60.4
Wilson 1236 610 49.3 1236 509 49.2

2. High Minority Enrollment Corre- ■ lated to High Minority TJnderachievement.

Many witnesses who testified for the plaintiffs at the Hearing on July 2-3, 1973, expressed the opinion that schools with high minority enrollment have high minority underachievement. 6 Certain statistics seem to indicate higher underachievement among minority stu *807 dents in schools cited for non-compliance with Illinois State Standards, as Table 3 from the Order of August 16, 1973 demonstrates: 7
TABLE 3
MEAN SCORES OF 5th GRADE STUDENTS
(for percentages of minority enrollment see Table 1)
Minority Non-Minority All Students
SCHOOL Reading Math Reading Math Reading Math
Barbour 36.77 34.89 46.30 40.76 38.80 36.14
Beyer 30.63 44.05 36.88 44.60 34.18 44.30
Dennis . . NO 5th GRADE . .
Ellis .. NO 5tt GRADE . .
Haskell 31.67 31.92 38.54 35.63 34.70 33.56
Henrietta .. NO 5th GRADE . .
Lathrop 45.14 47.00 47.08 46.16 45.63 46.63
Lincoln Pk. 28.87 29.24 42.12 37.47 33.36 32.03
McIntosh 30.44 27.27 41.31 36.95 35.76 32.01
Muldoon 29.21 29.61 40.11 28.92 31.39 29.47
Rock River 32.30 36.19 41.69 35.05 37.75 35.57
MEAN SCORES OF 7th GRADE STUDENTS

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385 F. Supp. 803, 1974 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 7851, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/quality-education-for-all-children-inc-v-school-board-of-school-district-ilnd-1974.