United States v. Lubbock Independent School District

316 F. Supp. 1310, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10463
CourtDistrict Court, N.D. Texas
DecidedAugust 25, 1970
DocketCiv. A. No. 5-806
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 316 F. Supp. 1310 (United States v. Lubbock Independent School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, N.D. Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Lubbock Independent School District, 316 F. Supp. 1310, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10463 (N.D. Tex. 1970).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

WOODWARD, District Judge.

This suit was originally filed by the United States of America, through the Department of Justice, in the Dallas Division of this Court, and pursuant to a mandate of the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, 431 F.2d 1313, the case was severed as to the Lubbock Independent School District and transferred, August 19, 1970, for an immediate hearing. The position of the United States of America is that the Defendant, Lubbock Independent School District, should show cause why it should not adopt a plan of pupil assignment in the School District in accordance with that proposed and attached to its Complaint. Pursuant to the mandate, conferences have been held between the Court and the attorneys involved and a full hearing on the merits of the matters in issue was heard before the Court on August 21st and August 22nd, 1970, and all parties introduced and presented testimony and exhibits to the Court.

1/ In essence, the Government charges that the Defendant School District has operated and continues to operate a dual school system, separated as to races, in that there has been an assignment of students and faculty to schools in accordance with an official state policy requiring racial segregation in the public schools. The evidence introduced by the Government is intended to show that a vestige of the dual structure exists at Struggs Junior High School, Dunbar Senior High School, and in six of the District’s elementary schools. The Defendant School District’s reply and position is that each of these schools (elementary, junior high and high school), are assigned pupils strictly on a neighborhood school basis and that there is no such dual structure existing in the operation of the Lubbock Independent School District.

Immediately after Brown I 1, and for the school year 1955-1956, there was a total enrollment of 18,410 students in the Lubbock Independent School District and this had grown to 33,213 for the 1969-1970 year. It was comprised of 82.8% Anglo students in 1956 as compared with 67.51% in 1969-70; 8.33% Mexican-American in 1955-56 as compared to 20.84% Mexican-American in 1969-70; and 8.86% Negro in 1955-56 as compared to 11.50% Negro in 1969-70. (Defendants argue that it is this growth and the shifting of populations that leaves this school system with schools that are either all black, or all Mexican-American, or substantially soTJ The percentage of racial enrollment in the schools at issue will be discussed later in this opinion.

If any of the schools in question were racially identifiable as to either Negroes or Mexican-Americans at the time of Brown I, and because of the operation of state law or policy, or if since such date they have become so racially identifiable as to racial minorities because of the acts of the Defendant School District, then it is required that school attendance boundary lines be re-drawn in order to wipe out such vestiges of a dual school system in these schools and in the District prior to the 1970-71 school year. See Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 20 L.Ed.2d 716 (1968) and Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Educa[1312]*1312tion, 396 U.S. 19, 90 S.Ct. 29, 24 L.Ed. 2d 19 (1969).

Although the problems are inter-related and decision of a problem in one area affects that in another, it adds to an understanding of the situation to discuss the pupil assignment evidence and facts in three separate categories, that is, high school, junior high school, and elementary schools.

HIGH SCHOOLS

The school in question is Dunbar High School which is located in the eastern portion of Lubbock and has been in its present position since 1958. Prior to that time, Dunbar was located about one mile west of its present location and the new building was built in 1958 with a capacity of 800 students, but when adjusted for special education classes would serve 773 students. At the present time, grades 9 through 12 inclusive are assigned to this school and it has unquestionably been an all-black school for many, many years, and was operated as a segregated black school under the laws that existed in the State of Texas prior to Brown I. In the 1969-70 school year there was an enrollment of 470; 457 or 97.24% were black, 1.91% MexieanAmerican, and .85% Anglo. This has been the situation prior to and since Brown I, when it was 100% black. The Defendant School District has attempted to correct this racial imbalance by increasing, at various times, the area to be included in the Dunbar School attendance zone, and has taken in several adjacent ‘blocks, but, although their estimates at the time such steps were taken were that integration would be effected, it failed to materialize. For instance, in 1968-69 this District was enlarged in the southwest corner and there were an estimated 53 whites that would attend Dunbar, but at the time of registration, only 2 remained in this school zone. This is evidence of flight by white families that has existed out of this particular zone when the School Board affirmatively attempted to solve their dilemma. Nevertheless, Dunbar is a school that was traditionally operated as a segregated black school under the laws of the State of Texas and the vestige of a dual system, in which this school was segregated as black, remains to this day.

Briefly, the other high schools are Estacado, which was opened in September of 1967 with a new and excellent physical plant with a capacity of 1,600 students. At the time it was opened it had an enrollment of 881, 55.73% Anglo, 18.28% Mexican-American, and 25.88% Negro. In 1968-69 it had an enrollment of 924, 43.07% Anglo, 22.62% Mexican-American and 34.31% Negro; and in 1969-70 it had an enrollment of 1,038, 33.91% Anglo, 26.11% Mexican-American, and 39.98% Negro. The zone assigned to Estacado is uniform as to its geographical area and the residential pattern as to race in this area is substantially that of the percentage of registration in the school. Estacado was carved out of the Lubbock High School District when Lubbock’s population expanded in this direction at or about the time the school was commenced. I do not that Estacado was ever operated as a segregated school, as the above figures indicate in the year that it was opened. Admittedly these percentages are changing, but the only explanation that can be gathered from the evidence before this Court is that it constitutes a flight of Anglo families from the area and an influx of minority groups and there is no showing of any conduct or act by the School District which causes it. However, this flight may not be as great as it appears, because in 1967-68 there were 491 Anglo students while there were 352 in 1969-70, and it was estimated that there would be a decrease of only 24 Anglo students in the 1970-71 school year. The particular situation found in Estacado is considerably muddled at this time due to the tragic tornado that struck just west of this area on May 11, 1970, and families who were displaced by the storm have moved into the Estacado area and there is no practical way at this time, prior to any registration, to know what the actual 1970-71 figures will be, but it cannot be said that Estacado is a seg[1313]

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Related

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378 F. Supp. 640 (W.D. Texas, 1974)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
316 F. Supp. 1310, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 10463, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lubbock-independent-school-district-txnd-1970.