United States v. Jefferson County Board of Education

417 F.2d 834
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit
DecidedJune 26, 1969
DocketNos. 27444, 27445
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 417 F.2d 834 (United States v. Jefferson County Board of Education) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 417 F.2d 834 (5th Cir. 1969).

Opinion

BELL, Circuit Judge:

These appeals contest the order of the district court denying further relief in the Bessemer and Jefferson County Board of Education school desegregation cases from the standpoint of requiring student assignments on a basis other than freedom of choice. The appeals also complain of the denial of relief with respect to school construction programs. In the case of Bessemer, plaintiffs sought to enjoin the construction of specific schools. We reverse and remand for further proceedings.

These school boards were involved in the appeals which resulted in the pro[835]*835mulgation of the model decree in United States v. Jefferson County Board of Education, 5 Cir., 1966, 372 F.2d 836, aff’d on rehearing en banc, 380 F.2d 385, cert. den., 389 U.S. 840, 88 S.Ct. 67, 19 L.Ed.2d 103. The model decree was entered in these cases on April 17, 1967. The motions for further relief sought to have this decree modified with respect to the assignment of students.1

The Jefferson model decree was promulgated to carry out the mandate of Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ct. 753, 99 L.Ed. 1083 (1955) which was to effectuate a transition from dual school systems to unitary racially nondiscriminatory systems. The model decree has resulted in 3.45 per cent of the Negro students in the Bessemer system attending school with white students for the year 1968-69. There are eleven schools in Bessemer; one all white, four all Negro, and six desegregated. The school population of the Bessemer system for the year 1968-69 was 8,615; 5,360 Negroes and 3,255 whites.

In the Jefferson County system, 3.43 per cent of the Negro students attended previously all white schools in the year 1968-69. The school population was 65,659; 47,830 whites and 17,829 Negroes. There were 105 schools; 48 remained all white, 28 all Negro, and 29 were desegregated.

In no school in either system has a white student chosen to attend a Negro school. There has been some assignment of both white and Negro teachers in each system to teach in schools where their race is in the minority but not to a marked degree.

The Supreme Court handed down additional definitive decisions in the school law area in 1968. Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, Virginia, 391 U.S. 430, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 20 L.Ed.2d 716 (1968); Raney v. Board of Education of Gould School Dist., Arkansas, 391 U.S. 443, 88 S.Ct. 1697, 20 L.Ed.2d 727 (1968); Monroe v. Board of Commissioners of the City of Jackson, Tennessee, 391 U.S. 450, 88 S.Ct. 1700, 20 L.Ed.2d 733 (1968). These cases emphasize the constitutional obligation of school boards to disestablish the dual school system by converting immediately to unified systems in which racial discrimination has been completely eliminated. “The transition to a unitary, nonracial system of public education was and is the ultimate end to be brought about * * 391 U.S. at p. 436, 88 S.Ct. at p. 1693. It was again stated that the burden was on school boards to come forward with plans to this end. In Green it was made plain that the use of freedom of choice would only be acceptable where “ * * * it offers real promise of aiding a desegregation program to effectuate conversion of a state-imposed dual system to a unitary, nonracial system * * *. ” 391 U.S. at 440-441, 88 S.Ct. at 1696. The court went on to hold that “* * * if there are reasonably available other ways, such for illustration as zoning, promising speedier and more effective conversion to a unitary, nonracial school system, ‘freedom of choice’ must be held unacceptable.” 391 U.S. at 441, 88 S.Ct. at 1696.

This court has subsequently reviewed freedom of choice plans in use in several school systems. The test has been in [836]*836terms of the effectiveness to disestablish the dual system. In Adams v. Mathews, 5 Cir., 1968, 403 F.2d 181, 188, we said:

“If in a school district there are still all-Negro schools or only a small fraction of Negroes enrolled in white schools, or no substantial integration of faculties and school activities then, as a matter of law, the existing plan fails to meet constitutional standards as established in Green.”

See also Davis v. Board of School Commissioners of Mobile County, 5 Cir., 1969, 414 F.2d 69; Hall v. St. Helena Parish School Board, 5 Cir., 1969, 417 F.2d 801; Anthony v. Marshall County Board of Education, 5 Cir., 1969, 409 F.2d 1287; United States v. Indianola Municipal Separate School District, 5 Cir., 1969, 410 F.2d 626; Henry v. Clarksdale Municipal Separate School District, 5 Cir., 1969, 409 F.2d 682; United States v. Greenwood Municipal Separate School District, 5 Cir., 1969, 406 F.2d 1086; Graves v. Walton County Board of Education, 5 Cir. 1968, 403 F.2d 184; Board of Public Instruction of Duval County v. Braxton, 5 Cir., 1968, 402 F.2d 900.

It is clear that the freedom of choice has not disestablished the dual school systems in Bessemer or Jefferson County. The district court was of the view that it would in time but this probability will not meet the test of Green if there are other methods available which will disestablish the dual -system now. For aught that appears, attendance zones would now accomplish the objective insofar as student assignment is concerned. The district court is directed on remand to consider zone assignments in each system.

The school construction program must also be considered by the district court to the end of insuring that the program will be used to disestablish the dual system. The Bessemer school construction of which plaintiffs complain is well under way. The schools can be desegregated in a meaningful manner on a zone assignment basis and thus any discrimination flowing from site location can be dissipated.

The sum of these cases is that they must be considered anew by the district court. In keeping with the teaching of Green, the time is now at hand to disestablish the dual school systems in Jefferson County and Bessemer. This will mean substantial changes in student and faculty assignment, in school bus routes, in school and extracurricular activities including athletic programs. Disestablishment, in the main, will come from local effort and through the cooperation of those having a direct interest in the education process.

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417 F.2d 834, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-jefferson-county-board-of-education-ca5-1969.