Kelley v. METROPOLITAN COUNTY BD. OF ED. OF NASHVILLE, ETC.

• Decision Date: 22 November 1968
• Docket Number: 2956.,Civ. A. No. 2094
• Citation: 293 F. Supp. 485
• Parties: Robert W. KELLEY and Henry C. Maxwell, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. METROPOLITAN COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Tennessee

293 F. Supp. 485

Robert W. KELLEY and Henry C. Maxwell, Jr., et al., Plaintiffs, v. METROPOLITAN COUNTY BOARD OF EDUCATION OF NASHVILLE AND DAVIDSON COUNTY, TENNESSEE et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. Nos. 2094, 2956.

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

November 22, 1968.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Avon N. Williams, Jr., and Z. Alexander Looby, Nashville, Tenn., Jack Greenberg, James M. Nabrit, III, and Franklin E. White, New York City, for plaintiffs.

Neill S. Brown and Robert Edwin Kendrick, Nashville, Tenn., for defendants.

Charles Hampton White, Nashville, Tenn., for Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association.

OPINION

WILLIAM E. MILLER, Chief Judge.

This is a motion for additional relief filed in these consolidated civil actions in which, by prior orders the counterparts of the defendant, Metropolitan County Board of Education of Nashville and Davidson County, Tennessee, (School Board), were required to adopt an acceptable plan for the desegregation of their local public schools. Plaintiffs in their motion for additional relief requested the addition as party plaintiffs of a number of students at Cameron High School together with their parents as next friends. This motion was allowed. By supplemental process the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association, (TSSAA), of which Cameron High School is a member, was added as a party defendant. The plaintiffs by their motion seek an injunctive order (1) enjoining the action of the School Board and the TSSAA suspending the interscholastic athletic program of Cameron High School for a period of one year, (2) directing the transfer of certain additional plaintiffs and other Negro students to white high schools outside the zone of their residence, and (3) requiring the School Board to file with the Court a plan for full desegregation of its school system, and forcing the TSSAA to integrate its practices and staff. A hearing was held at which evidence was introduced on the issues concerning athletic suspensions of Cameron High School and the transfer of students. The Court reserved the right to hear evidence and to rule at a later time on the issues involving further public school desegregation.

On September 23, 1955, the original action was filed herein against Nashville's City Board of Education. Later the Court approved a twelve year desegregation plan for the local school system which included a pupil transfer provision. Kelly v. Board of Education of City of Nashville, 159 F.Supp. 272 (M. D.Tenn.1958); Kelly v. Board of Education of City of Nashville, 8 R.R.L.R. 651. That judgment was affirmed by the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, Kelley v. Board of Education of City of Nashville, 270 F.2d 209 (1959), and certiorari was denied by the Supreme Court of the United States. Kelley v. Board of Education of City of Nashville, 361 U.S. 924, 80 S.Ct. 293, 4 L.Ed.2d 240 (1959).

A later case was filed September 9, 1960 seeking like relief against the Davidson County Board of Education. A similar long range plan of desegregation was approved, but on appeal the Supreme Court rejected that part of the plan providing for automatic transfers between school zones. Goss v. Board of Education of Knoxville, Tennessee, et al., 373 U.S. 683, 83 S.Ct. 1405, 10 L. Ed.2d 632 (1963).

The present motion was precipitated by the suspension of Cameron High School, an all Negro school, from interscholastic athletic competition for one year from April 4, 1968. The temporary suspension was imposed separately by the School Board and by TSSAA following investigations by them of alleged charges that students and other supporters of Cameron High School had engaged in misconduct at the Region V Basketball Tournament in Nashville, Tennessee, on March 8, 1968.

Early in March, 1968, a number of boys' and girls' high school basketball teams from several Middle Tennessee cities and counties met in Nashville for post-season tournament competition. One of the more hotly contested games was between Cameron and Stratford High Schools. The game was won by Stratford resulting in the fans for both teams displaying strong emotions over the outcome. Apparently, for one reason or another, the Cameron team incurred many more fouls than its opponent and the Cameron students and fans were quite disturbed. There is evidence that at the end of the game various groups of spectators departed from tournament standards of conduct; that a group from the Stratford cheering section violated the tournament rules by rushing onto the playing floor to congratulate their team; and that on the other side of the floor, large numbers of Cameron fans attempted to exit improperly, creating further confusion and causing the next scheduled game to be delayed.

The tournament was directed by Jacky Ray Davis, a teacher and coach at Lipscomb High School. Prior to, and during the basketball game, Davis announced the procedure and conduct to be followed by all spectators. He provided approximately fourteen policemen to maintain order, but they were unable fully to contain the crowds after the game. There is substantial evidence that groups of young Negroes carrying Cameron colors congregated outside the stands and marched around the hallways and ramps chanting and striking others as they passed. There is also evidence that cheerleaders and fans from the Cameron student section struck and verbally abused the referees; that the spectators refused to return to their seats upon request and it was necessary temporarily to discontinue the following basketball game until order was restored; and that because of the numerous problems and injuries reported to them, the tournament director and the policeman in charge called police headquarters for assistance from on-duty policemen.

The disturbances at the tournament were discussed at the next regular meeting of the School Board, at which time a special committee was appointed to investigate various complaints of misconduct growing out of the tournament. The committee was composed of the School Board's regular Athletic Council and three others, one of whom was a School Board member and the other two citizens at large. The committee as constituted had a total membership of 16, 5 of whom were Negroes.

Notice was served on the principals of Stratford, North, and Cameron High Schools by telephone that the Board's Investigating Committee was to conduct a hearing with respect to the alleged disturbances and the use of tranquilizers and stimulants at the Regional Basketball Tournament. The hearing was in the nature of an investigatory proceeding and no charges were filed against any particular school or individual. Mr. Oscar R. Jackson, principal of Cameron, was requested to appear before the Committee at a specified time and place and to bring with him Cameron's assistant principal, athletic business manager, basketball coach, assistant coaches, cheerleader sponsor, cheerleaders, teacher German Wilson, and any others having information bearing on the matter under investigation.

The Committee received testimony from school officials who had attended the Cameron-Stratford game, the Tournament directors, the Supervisor of the Middle Tennessee Basketball Officials Association, the Cameron-Stratford referees, Metropolitan police officers present at the tournament, and the requested representatives of the high schools involved. Although the Cameron School principal or his representative was present when witnesses produced by him were examined by the Committee members, he was not present when other witnesses were examined. Nor was he offered the opportunity to examine or cross-examine witnesses. Following the hearing a transcript of the testimony was prepared. Early in April, 1968, the Committee presented to the School Board findings of fact and recommendations which it had unanimously adopted. The Board approved the recommendations on April 4, 1968, without dissent, suspending Cameron from all interscholastic athletic competition for one year and establishing lesser penalties for two other schools. The Committee's findings as to Cameron were:

1. Certain unidentified Cameron Cheerleaders were actively involved in abusive conduct toward Cameron-Stratford game officials immediately following the game.

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3. A large number of people including Cameron students, refused to leave the corridors and take auditorium seats as requested by the public address announcement made by the tournament director prior to the start of the following game.

4. The administrative staff of Cameron High failed to provide adequate supervision during and following the game.

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6. There appeared to be inadequate preliminary orientation in preparing the student body for the game and its possible outcome in view of the intense rivalry between the two schools.

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Subsequent to the School Board's action, A. F. Bridges, Executive Secretary of the TSSAA, advised Mr. Jackson by telephone that as a result of its own investigation the TSSAA concurred in the action taken by the School Board and proposed to suspend Cameron High School for a like period of one year pursuant to TSSAA regulations.¹ The principal was offered the benefit of a hearing but agreed with Mr. Bridges that in view of the suspension by the School Board such a hearing would be superfluous. TSSAA formally suspended Cameron from interscholastic athletic competition on June 17, 1968, effective April 4, 1968 for a period of one year.

No further action was taken until July 9, 1968, at which time a plea for a reconsideration was heard by the School Board. The hearing was granted at the request of Attorney Avon N. Williams, Jr., but was limited to a thirty minute argument by Mr. Williams and a brief statement by Mrs. M. M. Drake, Chairman of the South Nashville Citizens Committee. No witnesses were allowed. The Board deferred action until its next meeting to enable its members to re-read the transcript of...