Maxwell v. COUNTY BD. OF EDUCATION OF DAVIDSON CO., TENN., Civ. A. No. 2956.

• Decision Date: 23 November 1960
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 2956.
• Citation: 203 F. Supp. 768
• Parties: Henry C. MAXWELL, Jr., et al. v. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, et al.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee

203 F. Supp. 768

Henry C. MAXWELL, Jr., et al. v. COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION OF DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE, et al.

Civ. A. No. 2956.

United States District Court M. D. Tennessee, Nashville Division.

November 23, 1960.

Avon Williams, Jr., and Z. Alexander Looby, Nashville, Tenn., and Jack Greenberg, New York City, for plaintiffs.

Shelton Luton, Davidson County Atty., and K. Harlan Dodson, Jr., of Hooker, Keeble, Dodson & Harris, Nashville, Tenn., for defendants.

WILLIAM E. MILLER, Chief Judge.

This cause came on to be heard before the Honorable WILLIAM E. MILLER, District Judge, on October 27, 1960, and prior days of the term, upon the entire record, oral testimony and exhibits without the intervention of a jury, brief and arguments of counsel, from all of which the Court finds and holds as follows:

FINDINGS OF FACT

1. The plaintiffs, all of whom are Negro school children and their parents and are citizens and residents of Davidson County, Tennessee, filed this action on 19 September, 1960, seeking declaratory and injunctive relief against enforcement of the custom, practice and policy of the defendant, County Board of Education of Davidson County and its Superintendent of Schools, J. E. Moss, requiring racial segregation in the County Schools and refusing to admit certain of the plaintiffs to certain schools solely because of their race or color. Plaintiffs also prayed for an order requiring defendants to submit a plan for reorganization of the entire County School System into a unitary nonracial school system, including plans for elimination of racial segregation in teacher and other personnel assignments, school construction, and the elimination of any other discriminations in the operation of the school system or in the school curriculum which are based solely upon race or color.

2. The defendants, Frank White; S. L. Wright, Jr.; F. K. Hardison, Jr.; Ferriss C. Bailey; E. D. Chappell; Aubrey Maxwell; and Olin White, together comprise all the duly elected members of the defendant County Board of Education of Davidson County, Tennessee, and are sued in their individual and official capacities together with said Board of Education, which is sued as a continuous body or entity. Defendant, J. E. Moss, is the duly elected or appointed County School Superintendent and/or Superintendent of Public Instruction of Davidson County, and is sued in both his individual and official capacity. The Board of Education is vested with the administration, management, government, supervision, control and conduct of the public schools of said County, and defendant, J. E. Moss, as administrative agent for the Board, has immediate control of the operation of the County Schools, and serves as a member of the Executive Committee of the Board.

3. The defendants, acting under color of the laws of the State of Tennessee and County of Davidson, have pursued for many years and are presently pursuing a policy, custom, practice and usage of operating a compulsory racially segregated school system in and for said County. The racially segregated school system operated by defendants consists of a system of elementary, junior high, and high schools, limited to attendance by white children and negro children, respectively, of the County of Davidson. Attendance at the various schools is determined solely upon race and color. A dual set of school zone lines is also maintained. These lines are based solely upon race and color. One set of lines relates to the attendance areas for the Negro schools and one set to the attendance areas for the white schools. These lines overlap where Negro and white school children reside in the same residential area.

4. At the beginning of the September 1960, school term, the infant plaintiffs, Henry C. Maxwell, Jr., and Benjamin Grover Maxwell, made application individually and/or through their parents to defendants for admission or transfer to Glencliff Junior High School and/or Antioch High School, same being "white" schools which are nearer to their residence than Haynes High School, the "Negro" school they are required to attend, and were refused said admission or transfer solely on account of their race or color. At the same time, the infant plaintiffs, Cleophus Driver, Christopher C. Driver, Deborah Driver, and Deborah Ruth Clark, made application individually and/or through their parents for admission or transfer to Bordeaux Elementary School, a "white" school which is nearer to their residence than Haynes School, the "Negro" school they are required to attend, and were refused admission or transfer by defendants, solely on account of their race or color. Had these infant plaintiffs been white children, they would have been admitted or transferred to the said "white" schools to which they applied.

5. The infant plaintiffs, Jacqueline Davis, Shirley Davis, George Davis, Jr., Robert Davis, Rita Davis, and Robert Rickey Taylor, reside nearer to a Negro school which they have been attending, but some of them accompanied the other plaintiffs when they made application for admission to said "white" schools, and all of them join in this action because they allege that they are being denied their right to enjoy a nondiscriminatory public education by reason of the compulsory racially segregated public school system which defendants are maintaining and operating in and for Davidson County.

6. At a preliminary hearing on 26 September, 1960, this Court reserved judgment on motions by defendants to strike and/or dismiss those portions of the complaint complaining of segregated teacher and personnel assignment, but ordered the defendants to submit a complete and substantial plan which will accomplish complete desegregation of the public school system of Davidson County, Tennessee in compliance with the requirement of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

7. Pursuant to said order of the Court, the defendants subsequently filed with the Court the following plan for desegregation of the school system:

PLAN

1. Compulsory segregation based on race is abolished in Grade One of the Davidson County Schools for the scholastic year beginning in September 1961, and thereafter for one additional grade beginning with each subsequent school year, i. e., for Grade Two in September 1962, Grade Three in September 1963, Grade Four in September 1964, etc.

2. A plan of school zoning based upon location of school buildings, transportation facilities and the most recent scholastic census, without reference to race, will be established for the administration of the first grade, and other grades as they are desegregated according to the gradual plan.

3. Students entering the first grade will be permitted to attend the school designated for the zone in which he or she resides, subject to regulations that may become necessary in particular cases.

4. Application for transfer of first grade students, and subsequent grades according to the gradual plan, from the school of their zone to another school will be given careful consideration and will be granted when made in writing by parents, guardians, or those acting in the position of parents, when good cause therefor is shown and when transfer is practicable and consistent with sound school administration.

5. The following will be regarded as some of the valid conditions for requesting transfer:

a. When a white student would otherwise be required to attend a school previously serving colored students only.

b. When a colored student would otherwise be required to attend a school previously serving white students only.

c. When a student would otherwise be required to attend a school where the majority of students in that school, or in his or her grade, are of a different race.

6. A plan of pupil registration to be held each Spring to aid in formulating necessary arrangements for the opening of schools in the Fall, such as available room, teaching aids, textbooks, pupil immunizations, zoning, and transportation facilities, will be continued.¹

7. Transportation will be provided to all students that are eligible for bus service.¹

8. Thereafter, the plaintiffs filed the following specifications of objections to said plan:

SPECIFICATION OF OBJECTIONS TO PLAN FILED BY COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION OF DAVIDSON COUNTY

The plaintiffs, Henry C. Maxwell, Jr., et al., respectfully object to the plan filed in the above entitled cause on or about the 19th day of October, 1960, by the defendant, County Board of Education of Davidson County, Tennessee, and specify as grounds of objection the following:

1. That the plan does not provide for elimination of racial segregation in the public schools of Davidson County "with all deliberate speed" as required by the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

2. That the plan does not take into account the period of over six (6) years which have elapsed during which the defendant, County Board of Education of Davidson County, has completely failed, neglected and refused to comply with the said requirements of the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

3. That the additional twelve (12) year period provided in said plan is not shown to be "necessary in the public interest" and "consistent with good faith compliance at the earliest practicable date" in accordance with the said requirement of the due process and equal protection clauses of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.

4. That the defendants have not carried their burden of showing any substantial problems related to public school administration arising from:

a. "the physical condition of the school plant";

b. "the school transportation system";

c. "personnel";

d. "revision of school districts and attendance areas into compact units to achieve a system of determining admission to the public schools on a

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