Cato v. Parham

• Decision Date: 25 July 1969
• Docket Number: No. PB-67-C-69.,PB-67-C-69.
• Parties: Samuel Wayne CATO et al., Plaintiffs, v. Lee PARHAM et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Arkansas

302 F. Supp. 129

Samuel Wayne CATO et al., Plaintiffs, v. Lee PARHAM et al., Defendants.

No. PB-67-C-69.

United States District Court E. D. Arkansas, Pine Bluff Division.

July 25, 1969.

George Howard, Jr., Pine Bluff, Ark., for plaintiffs.

Robert V. Light, Little Rock, Ark., for defendants.

Memorandum Opinion

HENLEY, Chief Judge.

This school desegregation case, involving Dollarway Public School District No. 2, Jefferson County, Arkansas, is before the Court once again, and once again the Court finds itself unable to give full or lasting approval to the latest desegregation plan submitted by the District's Board of Directors.

The plan involves geographical attendance zones for students in the junior high school and elementary school grades; the plan also involves faculty desegregation. The case presents questions generally similar to those presented in Graves v. The Board of Education of the North Little Rock, Arkansas, Public School District, D.C., 302 F.Supp. 136, this day decided. Defendants in both cases are represented by the same attorneys, and the contentions in both cases are similar. The Court has considered the two cases at the same time, and this opinion should perhaps be read in connection with the North Little Rock opinion.

While conditions in the two Districts are generally similar, the Court thinks it well to say at the outset of this opinion that there are certain distinctions to be made between them. The Dollarway District is a small district with comparatively few students and with few schools; the North Little Rock District is a large district with many students and many schools. The Dollarway District has traditionally provided transportation for a substantial number of its students whereas the North Little Rock District has never transported any students and owns no school busses. More important, the Dollarway District has been in litigation ever since 1958 and has resisted desegregation of its student bodies and faculties every step of the way; the North Little Rock District was not drawn into litigation until the summer of 1968. Having noted these distinctions, the Court now turns to the instant case.

On July 25, 1968, the Court found that the freedom of choice method of assigning students to the schools of the District had not and would not disestablish a dual school system of racially identifiable schools, and entered a decree commanding the District to replace freedom of choice with something else. Cato v. Parham, E.D.Ark., 293 F.Supp. 1375. The Court of Appeals affirmed. Cato v. Parham, 8 Cir., 403 F.2d 12. In the course of the argument on appeal counsel for the District assured the Court that the District was going to solve its integration problems by rationally created geographical attendance zones.

The Court of Appeals accepted that assurance at face value and also took the view that if the student bodies were effectively integrated, staff and faculty desegregation would take care of itself. Both the decree of this Court and the opinion of the Court of Appeals ordered the dual school system to be disestablished as of the opening of the 1969-70 school year.¹

Following the decision of the Court of Appeals the District worked out five attendance zones for its elementary schools and for its combination junior senior high schools and submitted its plan, based on the zones to the Court for its approval. On March 25 of the current year the Court filed a memorandum opinion and entered a decree refusing to approve the zones. Cato v. Parham, E.D.Ark., 297 F.Supp. 403. Reference is made to that opinion for a full discussion of the Dollarway situation in relation to attendance zones.

The Court's decree read in part as follows:

"3. That the defendant District be, and it hereby is, mandatorily enjoined to proceed to disestablish, effective with the opening of school in September 1969, the existing dual school system being operated by the District and to replace it with a unitary system free from racial discrimination, and in that connection is further mandatorily enjoined and commanded to restructure its schools in a manner not inconsistent with the aforesaid Memorandum Opinion of this Court.

"4. That not later than May 1 of the current year the defendant District file with the Court a written report reflecting the method of restructuring of its schools which it plans to put into effect and reflecting what the District proposes to do in the area of staff and faculty integration."

On April 29, 1969, the Board filed its report, in the form of a resolution, which report was based on studies made by a committee of the Board, the Superintendent of Schools, his staff, and counsel for the Board. A copy of the report last mentioned was attached to the resolution of the Board so that both reports are of record here.

In substance, what the Board proposed to do was: (1) Abandon for the time being its traditional "6-6" organization and operate at least for a time on a "6-3-3" basis; (2) Establish a single unitary high school on the formerly all white Dollarway campus in which instruction would be offered to students in Grades 10-12, the high school to be put into operation this year; (3) To use for purposes of assigning students in Grades 1-9 the same attendance zones that the Court had disapproved a month earlier. A study of the report attached to the Board's resolution indicated that the Board's committee, the Superintendent of Schools, the administrative staff, and counsel for the Board desired to continue "in transition" for at least one more year and perhaps longer.

On May 7 the Court on its own motion filed a letter opinion disapproving the new plan. The Court found that the plan would not disestablish the dual school system at the elementary and junior high school levels this year. The Court also found that the plan was completely lacking in specificity with respect to faculty desegregation and based on its past experience with the District the Court predicted that should the plan be approved it would produce only token faculty desegregation which the Court had held earlier to be unconstitutional.

The Court then proceeded to suggest the possibility that the schools might be integrated by pairing grades and suggested certain possible pairings. The Court recognized that from an educational standpoint the suggested plan might not be the best one for the District but that it was a plan, and the Court stated that it would be ordered into effect unless the Board could come up with an acceptable alternative within a very short period of time.

That letter opinion evoked a new plan, which is now before the Court, and to which plaintiffs object. Counsel for both sides agreed that the Court might evaluate the plan on the basis of materials before it without hearing further evidence or calling for further briefs. The plan may be summarized as follows:

1969-70 School Year

Grades 10-12: All students in these grades to be assigned to Dollarway Schools without regard to race, residence, or choice.

Grades 1-9: All students in these grades to be assigned either to Dollarway Schools, including Pinecrest, or to Townsend Park Schools on the basis of residence, subject to limited options to be mentioned. Students residing east of the Missouri Pacific Railroad tracks are to be assigned to the Townsend Park (Negro) Schools; Students residing west of the tracks are to be assigned to the Dollarway-Pinecrest (formerly all white) Schools.

(a) Any student residing between the tracks and U.S. Highway 65 may attend either the Townsend Park Schools or the Dollarway-Pinecrest Schools, according to his choice.

(b) Any student assigned to a school in which members of his race are in the majority may, at his request, be assigned to a school in which members of his race are in the minority.

Faculty and Staff: Teachers are to be assigned in such manner that no more than 75% of the teachers in any school will be members of the same race. Otherwise stated, at least 25% of the teachers in the Townsend Park Schools will be white, and at least 25% of the teachers in the Dollarway-Pinecrest Schools will be Negroes.

1970-71 School Years (And presumably future years).

Grade 7-12: All students in these grades will be assigned to the formerly all white schools without regard to race, residence, or choice.

Grades 1-6: All students in these grades will be assigned on the basis of the zones heretofore mentioned, with students to have the same assignment options as in 1969-70.

Staff and Faculty: No additional interracial assignments contemplated as of this time.

As far as the zones are concerned, the only differences between the present plan and the one that the Court rejected in March are that the special zone set up originally for the Pinecrest School has been eliminated, and that the boundary line between the Dollarway zone and the Townsend Park zone has been moved east from Highway 65 to the railroad tracks. The shifting of that boundary will serve to bring substantially more Negroes into the formerly all white schools; it will have little or no effect on assignments of white students to the Townsend Park Schools.

Taking up first the matter of faculty desegregation, the interracial assignments to be made this fall will not by any means bring about racial balance on the faculties of the District's schools, but the interracial assignments to be made are substantial and mark a very definite forward step for Dollarway. In view of the time element and certain other problems, the Court doubts that with respect to this year the Board could have made more interracial assignments than it has pledged itself to make. Hence, as far as 1969-70 is concerned, the Court will not disturb the Board's proposals with respect to faculties.

Next year will be another story. The Board will be ordered as of the beginning of the 1970-71 session to achieve complete desegregation of staffs and faculties and to maintain such desegregation...