William v. Iberville Parish School Board

314 F. Supp. 1104, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11097
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedJune 30, 1970
DocketCiv. A. Nos. 2921, 70-51
StatusPublished

This text of 314 F. Supp. 1104 (William v. Iberville Parish School Board) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
William v. Iberville Parish School Board, 314 F. Supp. 1104, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11097 (E.D. La. 1970).

Opinion

WEST, Chief Judge:

These consolidated actions grew out of the difficult task of converting the Iberville Parish School system from a dual system to a non-discriminatory unitary system. They involve complaints by two of the plaintiffs, Mr. Arnett D. James, Jr. and Mr. Wendol O. Williams, concerning their transfer and re-assignment by the School Board from positions of “principal” to newly created positions of “coordinating principals.” Succinctly stated, Mr. James and Mr. Williams contend that they have been “demoted” because they are members of the Negro race, while the defendant School Board contends that they have been promoted to more meaningful positions because of their superior ability to fill these newly created positions.

An evidentiary hearing was held before this Court on April 6, 1970, at which time over two hundred pages of testimony was taken. While other issues were possibly raised by the pleadings, it was agreed between Court and counsel that only the above delineated issues were at this time before the Court. Briefly, the testimony shows the facts to be as follows.

For several years now the Iberville Parish School Board has been operating its public school system under various plans approved by and imposed upon them by the Federal Courts. It would serve no useful purpose to go into the details of the various plans and orders that have been imposed upon this school system over the past several years. Suffice it to say that in July of 1969, pursuant to a mandate issued by the United States Circuit Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, this Court ordered the defendant School Board to implement a [1105]*1105plan for total desegregation of the schools which would be in complete effect by the beginning of the school year in September 1970. Thereafter, on January 27, 1970, pursuant to further mandate, this Court issued a new order requiring the complete desegregation plan to be fully implemented by February 1, 1970. The ordered plan was, of course, implemented on February 1, 1970, and in the course of its implementation, re-assignment of many students and some faculty members was required.

Prior to these re-assignments, plaintiff, Mr. Arnett Douglas James, Jr., a member of the Negro race, was principal of Sunshine High School. He had been in the Iberville Parish school system as a teacher for some sixteen years and he had been principal at Sunshine High School for five and one-half years. Sunshine was, before implementation of the new desegregation plan, an all-Negro high school. The other plaintiff, Mr. Wendol O. Williams, had been in the system as a teacher for thirty-five years, and was, at the time of his re-assignment, principal of Iberville High School. Effective February 1, 1970, Mr. James was re-assigned from the position of principal of Sunshine High School to the newly created position of coordinating principal over the Sunshine and St. Gabriel schools and Mr. Williams was reassigned from his position of principal of Iberville High School to the newly created position of coordinating principal over Iberville High School and Plaque-mine High School.

The creation of these new positions had been under consideration by the School Board for at least a year prior to their actual creation. They were officially provided for in the desegregation plan ordered by the Court on July 25, 1969. It was at that time expected that these positions would not be filled until the final phase of desegregation was implemented in September 1970. This is what both Mr. James and Mr. Williams expected as far back as July or August 1969. But the revised Court order of January 27, 1970, changed all that. It required the final phase of the desegregation plan to be implemented on February 1, 1970. Consequently, the re-assignment of Mr. James and Mr. Williams was advanced to that date. One of the unfortunate results of the Court’s newly advanced deadlines was the inability of the School Board, due to the short noticed, unexpected advance in the deadline date, to properly outline by February 1, 1970, the exact duties and responsibilities of the newly created positions of coordinating principals, and to properly provide, by February 1, 1970, the necessary space, equipment and personnel which they knew would ultimately be required for these positions. But in any event, the positions were formally established on February 1, 1970, and on that date Mr. James and Mr. Williams were assigned to fill those positions, even though their offices were inadequately equipped, and their duties and responsibilities were not clearly defined.

The fact that Mr. James and Mr. Williams were the only Negro principals in the school system, and the fact that they were replaced by white principals does, of course, make the re-assignments immediately suspect. But the totality of evidence- in this case does not, at this point, justify a conclusion that these re-assignments of Mr. James and Mr. Williams were discriminatory “demotions” as contemplated by the prohibitory provisions of the Court decree under which this school system was being operated. Indeed, at this stage of the proceedings, a conclusion that the reassignments amounted to a “demotion” would be unwarranted.

In connection with the dismissal or demotion of faculty and staff members, the Court’s order of December 16, 1969, [taken directly from the mandate included in Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District, 419 F.2d 1211 (CA 5 — 1969)] provided:

“If there is to be a reduction in the number of principals, teachers, teacher-aides, or other professional staff employed by the school district which will result in a dismissal or demotion of [1106]*1106any such staff members, the staff member to be dismissed or demoted must be selected on the basis of objective and reasonable non-discriminatory standards from among all the staff of the school district. In addition if there is any such dismissal or demotion, no staff vacancy may be filled through recruitment of a person of a race, color, or national origin different from that of the individual dismissed or demoted, until each displaced staff member who is qualified has had an opportunity to fill the vacancy and has failed to accept an offer to do so.
Prior to such a reduction, the school board will develop or require the development of non-racial objective criteria to be used in selecting the staff member who is to be dismissed or demoted. These criteria shall be available for public inspection and shall be retained by the school district. The school district also shall record and preserve the evaluation of staff members under the criteria. Such evaluation shall be made available upon request to the dismissed or demoted employee.
‘Demotion’ as used above includes any re-assignment (1) under which the staff member receives less pay or has less responsibility than under the assignment he held previously, (2) which requires a lesser degree of skill than did the assignment he held previously, or (3) under which the staff member is asked to teach a subject or grade other than one for which he is certified or for which he has had substantial experience within a reasonably current period. In general and depending upon the subject matter involved, five years is such a reasonable period.”

The evidence in this case simply does not justify a conclusion at this time that Mr. James and Mr.

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314 F. Supp. 1104, 1970 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 11097, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/william-v-iberville-parish-school-board-laed-1970.