United States v. South Park Independent School District

491 F. Supp. 1177, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11761
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Texas
DecidedJune 6, 1980
DocketCiv. A. 6819
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 491 F. Supp. 1177 (United States v. South Park Independent School District) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.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. South Park Independent School District, 491 F. Supp. 1177, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11761 (E.D. Tex. 1980).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION ON REMAND 1

JOE J. FISHER, District Judge.

Pursuant to the mandate of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, this Court held an additional hearing for the purpose of “determining whether or not the [South Park Independent School District (“SPISD” or “District”)] is in fact a ‘unitary’ school system” and whether the *1179 reassignment of principals by the District prior to the 1977-1978 school year “was done without regard to the race of the individuals involved.” 2 United States v. South Park Ind. School Dist., 566 F.2d 1221, 1225-26 (5th Cir.), cert. denied, 439 U.S. 1007, 99 S.Ct. 622, 58 L.Ed.2d 684 (1978).

Because this Court finds that its school desegregation order of 31 August 1970 (“1970 Order” or “desegregation Order”) created a unitary system for the SPISD by implementing a racially neutral attendance zone for each school, it concludes that it is without jurisdiction to consider the United States’ motion for “supplemental relief” seeking an order requiring the SPISD to come forward with additional plans to desegregate the students within the District. Pasadena City Bd. of Educ. v. Spangler, 427 U.S. 424, 434-37, 96 S.Ct. 2697, 2703-04, 49 L.Ed.2d 599 (1976); Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ., 402 U.S. 1, 31-32, 91 S.Ct. 1267, 1283-84, 28 L.Ed.2d 554 (1971). The Court also finds that there is insufficient evidence to support a finding that racial considerations played any part in the reassignment of principals by the District prior to the 1977-1978 school year. Thus, it is the conclusion of the Court that the SPISD violated neither the 1970 Order nor the Constitution of the United States in the principal reassignments. See Singleton v. Jackson Mun. Sep. School Dist., 419 F.2d 1211, 1217-18 (5th Cir. 1969), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1032, 90 S.Ct. 612, 24 L.Ed.2d 530 (1970).

I

A

On 31 August 1970, this Court entered an order (“1970 Order” or “desegregation Order”) implementing a school desegregation plan for the SPISD. The language, intent, and effect of the 1970 Order was to “establish a unitary school system in [the] . District.” The desegregation Order provided, with one exception, for the desegregation of the student body in the District schools by a neighborhood school plan. Under the plan, attendance zones were drawn encompassing each of the three high schools, four junior high schools (now middle schools), and eleven elementary schools. As an exception to the neighborhood school concept, a majority-to-minority transfer option was included. Under this scheme, a student who is assigned to a school in which a.majority of the students are of his race may elect to attend any other school in the SPISD in which members of his race are a minority. Students who elect this option are given transportation by the District to the school of their choice. 3 Further, these students are given priority for space in any school which they elect to attend — not merely the closest SPISD school in which their race is in the minority. 4

The 1970 Order also provided for the desegregation of faculty and staff within the schools in the District. Under the desegregation Order, the ratio of Black teachers and staff to White teachers and staff in each school is within five percent (5%) of the ratio of Black teachers and staff to White teachers and staff in the District.

After entry of the 1970 Order none of the parties appealed. It became final.

B

On 19 July 1976, nearly 6 years after entry of the desegregation Order, the United States moved for supplemental relief requesting that this Court order the SPISD to develop, adopt, and implement a comprehensive school desegregation plan which would satisfy the requirements of subse *1180 quent pronouncements of the Supreme Court of the United States and the United States courts of appeals in school desegregation cases. 5 No allegation was made that the SPISD had failed to comply with the 1970 Order.

On 11 August 1976, approximately 1500 parents and students (“Parents and Students”) living within the District moved to intervene as a class representing themselves and others similarly situated.

A hearing was held on 16 and 19 August 1976. It was the position of the SPISD that it had remained in full compliance with the terms of the 1970 Order, that agencies of the United States had consistently approved the District’s implementation of the 1970 Order, that the differences in the racial composition of schools from those anticipated in 1970 when the desegregation Order was entered were the result of changed residential patterns beyond the District’s control, that since 1970 the SPISD had been guilty of no segregative acts, and that the 1970 Order was the most educationally sound and constitutionally acceptable integration plan available to the District. The United States presented oral argument in support of its motion and in opposition to the motion to intervene of the Parents and Students. Several witnesses were called by the SPISD to substantiate its position. No testimony was offered by the United States.

On 9 September 1976, an order was entered denying the motion for supplemental relief of the United States and granting the motion to intervene of the Parents and Students. This Court found that while some of the SPISD schools reflected a lesser percentage of desegregation than had been anticipated, other schools reflected a greater degree of desegregation than had been expected in 1970, and that evidence established that the desegregative results at schools differing from those anticipated in 1970 were the consequence of changed residential patterns beyond the control of the District. Moreover, it was apparent that the District had taken no affirmative action with segregative intent since 1970, nor refrained from taking any action within the scope of the 1970 Order which, if taken, would have increased the segregative results at those schools where the degree of desegregation was less than anticipated. This Court also found that the neighborhood school plan, as set out in the desegregation Order, dissolved all vestiges of a dual system. Thus, having specifically found a unitary system established by its 1970 Order, this Court concluded that it had no jurisdiction to consider the motion of the United States for supplemental relief.

The United States appealed.

C

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699 F.2d 1291 (Fifth Circuit, 1983)

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Bluebook (online)
491 F. Supp. 1177, 1980 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11761, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-south-park-independent-school-district-txed-1980.