Whittenberg v. School District of Greenville County

607 F. Supp. 289, 24 Educ. L. Rep. 1127, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21939
CourtDistrict Court, D. South Carolina
DecidedMarch 11, 1985
DocketCiv. A. 63-4396-3
StatusPublished
Cited by3 cases

This text of 607 F. Supp. 289 (Whittenberg v. School District of Greenville County) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. South Carolina primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Whittenberg v. School District of Greenville County, 607 F. Supp. 289, 24 Educ. L. Rep. 1127, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21939 (D.S.C. 1985).

Opinion

ORDER

GEORGE ROSS ANDERSON, JR., District Judge.

This matter arises out of petitions to intervene in the original action filed in this Court on August 19, 1963, seeking to desegregate the school system of Greenville County, Elaine Whittenberg, etc., v. School District of Greenville County, South Carolina, et al. Four groups of persons have filed petitions to intervene: Mr. and Mrs. James P. Harrison, et al., the Concerned Parents of Greenville High School (Greenville High group); NAACP, et al. (NAACP); Dr. and Mrs. William T. Weathers, et al., parents of students at various high schools, including Wade Hampton High School and Eastside High School (Wade Hampton High and Eastside High group); and Martha H. Drew, et al., members of Concerned Parents and Friends of Parker High School (Parker High group). The defendants are the School District of Greenville County and related parties (“School District”).

During the almost twenty-two years since the commencement of this action, numerous Orders have been entered by the Court; most significant among these are the Order of Judge J. Robert Martin, Jr., filed on February 5, 1970, and the Order of Judge Robert F. Chapman filed on July 22, 1976.

The Order of Judge Martin on February 5, 1970, approved a plan of integration proposed by the School District of Greenville County which assigned students and teachers to schools throughout the system on a ratio of approximately 80% White to 20% Black, reflecting the racial makeup at that time of both students and teachers. This plan of integration was submitted to the Court by the School District in late 1969, with the request for authority to implement it in September of 1970. This Court approved the plan and schedule. The plaintiffs, however, demanded immediate implementation and appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on the question of the schedule only. The Court of Appeals, on the basis of decisions of the United States Supreme Court in Alexander v. Holmes County Bd. of Educ., 396 U.S. 19, 90 S.Ct. 29, 24 L.Ed.2d 19 (1969), and Carter v. West Feliciana Parish School Bd., 396 U.S. 290, 90 S.Ct. 608, 24 L.Ed.2d 530 (1970), in an opinion filed January 20, 1970, reversed Judge Martin’s Order and required implementation of the plan by February 9, 1970, or February 16, 1970, for good cause shown. On remand, Judge Martin granted the one-week extension.

During the ensuing eleven (11) days, the School District complied with the Order of this Court and integrated 58,000 students and 2,384 faculty members throughout the 103 schools in the District on a ratio approximating 80% White to 20% Black in every school. The School District covers approximately 800 square miles and, at that time, was the seventieth (70th) largest of the approximately 16,000 school districts in the United States. The promptness and thoroughness with which this original plan of complete integration was implemented in one of the largest school districts in the United States is a striking example of the School District’s good faith and of its professional and statesman-like response to the requirements of the United States Constitution. In Judge Martin’s Order, the Court retained jurisdiction in this case for purposes of hearing any aggrieved party to this action who might seek relief on legal or constitutional questions.

In July of 1976, the School District petitioned the Court to change the requirements of Judge Martin’s Order from target racial ratios of 80% White and 20% Black to *293 target racial ratios of 76% White and 24% Black, because the ratios in the student population had so changed. The School District also sought approval of a plan for the following school year, 1976-77, which limited student reassignments to grades 1, 6 and 9 and avoided the necessity to reassign students in every grade to achieve the proper racial balance. Under the existing system, it was possible that a student could be assigned every year to achieve the required racial balances. Judge Chapman held a hearing on July 15, 1976, at which he received testimony and evidence from the School District. The intervenors submitted no evidence. By his Order dated July 22, 1976, Judge Chapman found that, as to student assignment, the School District has been operated as a unitary system, and he approved the School District’s assignment plan for 1976-77. The Order imposed no restrictions on the School District after the 1976-77 school year, beyond the requirement that the School District remain unitary. The Order held open the question of teachers and other professional employees, which had been raised by motion of the intervening plaintiffs.

Some eight years later, the current inter-venors have raised the following issues:

The Greenville High group filed the first petition for intervention in this case, on June 5, 1984. These intervenors, parents of children who attend Greenville High School, allege that the School District has failed to abide by the Court’s prior orders in failing to maintain racial balances, that course offerings and facilities were inferior at Greenville High School, and that the School District has failed to operate as a unitary system.

The NAACP filed the second petition for intervention in this action on June 13, 1984. This petition is quite lengthy and makes numerous allegations, including, inter alia: that the School District closed Black schools while building new schools and expanding existing schools in White neighborhoods in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment; that the burden of busing was borne disproportionately by Blacks; that the School District has violated the 1976 Order of Judge Chapman by relaxing racial balances; that the District has allowed certain schools in predominately Black neighborhoods to become under-enrolled with a resulting disadvantage in funding; that the School District has discriminated against Black students in educational opportunities; that the School District has discriminated on the basis of race with respect to faculty, administrators, and other personnel in hiring and promotion; that the School District has discriminated against Black students and other personnel in discipline; and that the School District has failed to establish and maintain a unitary school system as required by the Constitution of the United States.

On October 5, 1984, the Wade Hampton High and Eastside High Group filed the third petition to intervene, making no specific allegations, but stating that they sought intervention to protect their interests in the proceeding, which they alleged were different from those of the other in-tervenors.

Finally, on January 31, 1985, the Concerned Parents and Friends of Parker High School (Parker High Group) filed the fourth and last petition to intervene in this action. They submitted a “Complaint” to the Court, alleging: that Parker High School is a well-integrated school; that the School District planned to convert Parker High School to a middle school; that the School District has based its decision to change the use of Parker High on mistaken or inadequate reasons; and that the School District was improperly planning to close a “well-integrated high school”.

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Bluebook (online)
607 F. Supp. 289, 24 Educ. L. Rep. 1127, 1985 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21939, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/whittenberg-v-school-district-of-greenville-county-scd-1985.