Moses v. Washington Parish School Board, Civ. A. No. 15973.

Citation276 F. Supp. 834
Decision Date15 November 1967
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 15973.
PartiesVertrees MOSES, by his father and next friend, Wilton Moses, and all other Negroes similarly situated v. WASHINGTON PARISH SCHOOL BOARD, a Corporation et al.
CourtU.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana

Richard B. Sobol, Donald Juneau, Nils R. Douglas, Collins, Douglas & Elie, New Orleans, La., for plaintiffs.

Welton O. Seal, Hillary Crain, Associate Counsel, Bogalusa, La., Woodrow Erwin, Dist. Atty., 22nd Judicial District, Franklinton, La., for defendants.

HEEBE, District Judge:

I.

Vertrees Moses, a minor, citizen and resident of Louisiana, a Negro, and student in the public school system of Washington Parish, instituted this class action by a complaint filed by and through his father, Wilton Moses, on September 28, 1965. The complaint alleged: that the individual plaintiff, as well as all other minor Negro students in the Washington Parish school system, were "irreparably injured" by "the continued operation by the defendants of compulsory biracial school systems" in Washington Parish; that "defendants maintain and operate compulsory biracial school systems by the use of dual school zones or attendance areas * * * and make initial assignments of students to the public schools under their control on the basis of race or color"; that "the Washington Parish School Board has not undertaken any steps to desegregate their school systems * * *." The plaintiff prayed for an order enjoining defendants and their associates "from continuing to operate compulsory biracial school systems in Washington Parish," from "continuing to maintain dual schemes or patterns of school zone lines or attendance area lines based on race or color," and for other supplemental relief. In the alternative, plaintiffs prayed "that this Court enter a decree directing defendant, the Washington Parish School Board, to present a complete plan * * * for the reorganization of the entire school systems under their respective jurisdictions into unitary, nonracial systems * * *; the drawing of school zones or attendance area lines on a nonracial basis * * *; and the elimination of any other discrimination in the planning or operation of the school systems or curricula under their respective jurisdictions which are based on race or color."

The matter came before Judge Frank B. Ellis, who formerly presided over this section of the Court. All issues were apparently discussed and resolved at a pre-trial conference held October 11, 1965, for with the consent of all counsel the formal hearing of the matter was continued indefinitely and Judge Ellis issued an order two days later which directed the desegregation of the Washington Parish school system and recited in toto a comprehensive plan for the implementation thereof.

Although there is nothing in the record to indicate the origin of the plan propounded by the Court in its order of October 13, 1965, it seems probable that the substance of that plan was taken by the Court from the plan desegregating the Bogalusa school system (an independent subdivision of the Washington Parish system), which had then just recently been ordered into effect by Judge Ellis in the case of Jenkins v. City of Bogalusa School Board, C.A. 15798, unreported.

Although the School Board and the individual defendants formally opposed the desegregation order, they undoubtedly acquiesced in the plan which implemented it, since the Board, as was its prerogative,1 proposed no plan of its own.

The plan was set forth in nine numbered paragraphs, the first four of which provided for the rate of desegregation2 of the Washington Parish school system, and for the right of students in the desegregated grades to transfer3 out of the schools to which they had originally been assigned on the basis of their race; the plan did not, however, expressly abolish the original and racially segregated geographic zones. Nevertheless, paragraph five of the plan provided that:

"Beginning with the second semester of the 1965-1966 school year the year in which grades 1 and 12 were to be desegregated, dual school districts on racial lines shall be abolished contemporaneously with the application of this plan to the respective grades when and as reached by the application of this plan.
"As the dual school system is abolished, the board shall present to the Court for approval its maps and plans for a single system of geographic school districts." (emphasis and material in brackets supplied)

On August 22, 1966, plaintiffs filed a motion to amend and supplement the original plan. The motion prayed for a set of additional provisions requiring the defendants to submit the maps and plans for an integrated geographically zoned school system already required by paragraph five of the original order but not yet furnished by the defendants. The plaintiffs' motion prayed in the alternative for a different set of provisions directed away from the geographical zoning procedure and installing updated provisions for the student-transfer system originally set up which would convert this part of the Court's original plan to a more recognizable and (for that time) legally adequate "free-choice" system. A pre-trial conference was held on September 8, 1966, at which time the defendants agreed to file with the Court and opposing counsel the maps required by the original order and plan. After additional conferences in December and January, and not having received from the Board any maps or proposed plans for single geographical zones, or any other proposal from the School Board, the Court issued an order on January 9, 1967, bolstering the transfer provisions of Judge Ellis' order to bring the original plan more into line with the minimum requirements of free-choice systems now established by the Fifth Circuit.4

Shortly thereafter there ensued a dispute between the parties regarding the School Board's compliance with the desegregation orders of this Court then in force culminating in the filing by plaintiffs of a motion for contempt proceedings against the School Board and the defendant Oscar Slade, principal of the Varnado High School. The motion was withdrawn by plaintiffs insofar as it sought an order for criminal contempt against defendants, and the Court, after a four-day hearing on the plaintiffs' motion for an order of civil contempt, found that neither the Washington Parish School Board nor Mr. Slade had intentionally violated the orders of the Court, and dismissed the plaintiffs' motion on June 2, 1967.

Meanwhile, plaintiffs had filed a motion for further relief, seeking a complete revision of the orders and desegregation plan already in effect. This is the motion now before the Court for determination. Consideration of the motion was postponed by the intervening matters noted and for the additional reason that the Court wished to have the full benefit of the en banc opinion in the Jefferson County school case, which was expected but had not yet been rendered by the Fifth Circuit.

II.

Plaintiffs seek basically the following relief:

(1) Desegregation of all grades as of the present school year (1967-1968;
(2) Installment of a geographical zoned system for pupil assignment to replace the existing "transfer" or "free choice" system;
(3) "Secondary" provisions for full desegregation of the Washington Parish school system, including orders for faculty integration, transportation of students on a non-racial basis, desegregation of school services, facilities and activities, upgrading of inferior formerly all-Negro schools, and remedial education programs for students who previously attended all-Negro schools.

With reference to the rate of grade-desegregation, what plaintiffs seek herein on the first count above was, and is, fully contained in the first order issued by Judge Ellis in this case; under paragraph 3(b) of that order, the final stage of desegregation was to be reached by the desegregation of the last five grades in each school in Washington Parish in 1967-1968. Moreover, the Fifth Circuit has made it quite clear in the Jefferson County case United States v. Jefferson County Board of Education,5 372 F.2d 836 (5th Cir. 1966), rehearing en banc, 380 F.2d 385 (1967), that all grades in all public schools in this circuit must be desegregated for the 1967-1968 school year. The rate of desegregation is no longer an issue in the school cases in this circuit; the methods and the "plans"6 proper to achieve the full desegregation now expected and required are the only matters still open to discussion.

The provisions which we have termed "secondary"—in the sense of being supplemental to the primary relief of full desegregation of student assignment sought by plaintiffs, and not by any means secondary in importance to the plaintiffs—are also fully required by the Jefferson County case.7

The crucial point of the motion is the plaintiffs' request that this Court amend its order by abolishing the "free-choice" system of pupil assignment and ordering the school board to set up in its place a system of geographic zones. We agree that the so-called "free-choice" system must be abolished, and we have affixed an order directing the school board to proceed with the task of drawing up a geographical single zoned system of pupil assignment; but we do so for reasons quite distinct from those suggested to us by the plaintiffs.

III.

Prior to the last school year (1966-1967), no Negro student had ever attended a "previously all-white school" in Washington Parish; no white child had attended a "previously all-Negro school"; this, despite Judge Ellis' order of October 13, 1965, ordering the desegregation of two grades in the system for the 1965-1966 year. In the 1966-1967 year, 18 Negro students attended previously all-white schools, according to the report of the Washington Parish School Board (Defendants' Exhibit 1). According...

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8 cases
  • Henry v. Clarksdale Municipal Separate School Dist.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
    • March 6, 1969
    ...more unreasonable, more needlessly wasteful in every respect, than the so-called "free-choice" system. Moses v. Washington Parish School Board, E.D.La. 1967, 276 F.Supp. 834. Historically, a compulsory attendance zone system almost invariably prevailed in the school districts in this circui......
  • Beckett v. School Board of City of Norfolk, Civ. A. No. 2214.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia
    • December 30, 1969
    ...would ignore discriminatory actions by other public officials or discriminatory legislation. In Moses v. Washington Parish School Board, 276 F.Supp. 834, 840, 847 (E.D. La., 1967), the court said "`de jure segregation' means simply `segregation' in the traditional sense, that is, forced, pu......
  • Cisneros v. Corpus Christi Independent School Dist.
    • United States
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    • June 4, 1970
    ...board to alter a neighborhood school attendance plan to counteract true de facto segregation. See, e. g., Moses v. Washington Parish Sch. Bd., 276 F.Supp. 834, 840 (E.D.La.1967). Because the Supreme Court has not ruled otherwise, the Supreme Court's narrow holding in Brown has often been an......
  • Moore v. Tangipahoa Parish School Board, Civ. A. No. 15556.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Louisiana
    • July 2, 1969
    ...15 "There is no constitutional `right' for any student to attend the public school of his own choosing." Moses v. Washington Parish School Board, E.D.La., 1967, 276 F.Supp. 834, 851; Accord, Green v. County School Board, 1968, 391 U.S. 430, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 20 L.Ed.2d 716; Hall v. St. Helena ......
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