Brewer v. West Irondequoit Central School Dist.

• Decision Date: 14 January 1999
• Docket Number: No. 98-CV-6393L.,98-CV-6393L.
• Citation: 32 F.Supp.2d 619
• Parties: Laurie A. BREWER and Jodie Foster, Individually and as Parents and Guardians of Jessica L. Haak, a minor, Plaintiffs, v. THE WEST IRONDEQUOIT CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, the URBAN-Sub-urban Interdistrict Transfer Program, Theresa J. Woodson, Gretchen Stephan, Marlene S. Allen, in their individual and official capacities, Monroe Number One Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Western District of New York

32 F.Supp.2d 619

Laurie A. BREWER and Jodie Foster, Individually and as Parents and Guardians of Jessica L. Haak, a minor, Plaintiffs, v. THE WEST IRONDEQUOIT CENTRAL SCHOOL DISTRICT, the URBAN-Sub-urban Interdistrict Transfer Program, Theresa J. Woodson, Gretchen Stephan, Marlene S. Allen, in their individual and official capacities, Monroe Number One Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Defendants.

No. 98-CV-6393L.

United States District Court, W.D. New York.

January 14, 1999.

Jeffrey Wicks, Bansbah, Zoghlin, Asandrov & Wicks, P.C., Rochester, NY, for plaintiffs.

Daniel J. Moore, Harris, Beach & Wilcox, Kevin S. Cooman, Peter J. Weishaar, Craig J. Zicari, Zicari, McConville, Cooman, Morin & Welch, Rochester, NY, for defendants.

DECISION AND ORDER

LARIMER, Chief Judge.

The basic issue before the Court is whether a governmental body — a school district — can deny a child the opportunity to participate in a school-sponsored program on account of her race. The answer must be "no." As Justice Lewis Powell said in his opinion for the Supreme Court in Regents of the Univ. of California v. Bakke, 438 U.S. 265, 289, 98 S.Ct. 2733, 57 L.Ed.2d 750 (1978): "the guarantee of equal protection cannot mean one thing when applied to one individual and something else when applied to a person of another color. If both are not accorded the same protection, then it is not equal."

In the instant case, a child sought the benefits of a transfer program which allowed students to transfer from one school district to another. The child met all of the "criteria" for admission, save one: she was white and only "minority students" were deemed eligible for the program by those who administer it. Implementation of the program in such a fashion cannot survive analysis under the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution.

Plaintiffs, Laurie A. Brewer and Jodie Foster, commenced this action against the West Irondequoit School District ("WISD"), the Monroe Number One Board of Cooperative Educational Services ("BOCES"), and several school officials who implement the Urban-Suburban Interdistrict Transfer Program ("the Program"). All of plaintiffs' claims relate to defendants' decision not to allow plaintiffs' daughter, Jessica L. Haak ("Jessica"), to participate in the program because she is a nonminority student within the Rochester City School District ("RCSD"). Specifically, Jessica, who lives in Rochester, New York and attends an elementary school in RCSD, was denied the opportunity to transfer to an elementary school in an adjoining suburban district (WISD) because she is a white Caucasian. It is undisputed that as administered, the program only allows minority students to transfer from schools in RCSD to suburban schools and only nonminority students may transfer from suburban schools to schools in the City of Rochester.

Plaintiffs assert claims under the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (42 U.S.C. § 2000d) and under New York State law. Plaintiffs have now moved for a preliminary injunction ordering defendants to allow Jessica to transfer from her school in the City of Rochester to an elementary school in the WISD. For the reasons that follow, the motion is granted.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND

I. The Urban-Suburban Interdistrict Transfer Program

The relevant facts are for the most part not in dispute. The Program had its genesis in a 1965 agreement between the Rochester City School District and the West Irondequoit School District. Over the years, several other suburban districts have voluntarily joined the Program; currently seven school districts — Rochester, West Irondequoit, Brighton, Brockport, Penfield, Pittsford and Wheatland-Chili — participate in the Program. Apparently, the Program is the only such interdistrict transfer program in New York. Affidavit of Theresa J. Woodson, sworn to October 13, 1998, ¶ 6.

The Program has several stated objectives, which are expressed in various documents relating to the Program. For example, the Program's "Mission Statement" states that the Program is designed to enhance and enrich the participating schools and their communities by "Reducing Minority Group Isolation," "Encouraging Intercultural Learning," "Promoting Academic Excellence," and "Fostering Responsible Civic Leadership." Affidavit of Kevin S. Cooman, sworn to October 14, 1998, Ex. D. A written "overview" of the Program similarly states that it

encompasses a commitment to:

* Promote educational options and intercultural opportunities for children from multiple ethnic backgrounds as they attend school together.

* Maintain dedicated efforts to foster student and adult appreciation of their cultural commonalities and diversities.

* Provide experiences in multiple, nonmandated intercultural activities that will benefit students coming from varied ethnic and social backgrounds.

* Develop academic and personal challenges that correlate with the skills, abilities and experiences of both urban and suburban students.

* Enhance and improve the quality of intercultural learning for both urban and suburban students from different ethnic environments.

Id. Ex. E.

Although the Program thus has several stated goals, it has but a single method of achieving those goals: allowing minority students to transfer out of RCSD schools to suburban schools, and allowing white students to transfer from the suburbs to the RCSD.

Despite its many stated objectives, it is clear that the main purpose of the Program is to reduce what is described as "racial isolation" within the student population of the participating school districts. As defined by regulations issued by the New York State Commissioner of Education, "[r]acial isolation means that a school or school district enrollment consists of a predominant number or percentage of students of a particular racial/ethnic group." 8 N.Y.C.R.R. § 175.24(a)(2). In other words, the program is designed to reduce the percentage of minority students in predominantly minority city schools, and to increase the percentage of minority students in predominantly white suburban schools. Neither the regulations nor any literature covering the Program states what the ideal or desired percentage should be, however.

For a number of years, the Program received funding from the federal government pursuant to the Emergency School Aid Act of 1972 ("ESAA"), formerly 20 U.S.C. § 1617. In enacting ESAA, Congress stated that it wanted to further "the process of eliminating or preventing minority group isolation ...." Former 20 U.S.C. § 1601(a). That statute, however, was repealed in 1982. After ESAA was repealed, New York State began providing funding for the Program pursuant to Ed. L. § 3602(36). That statute provides that a "school district which accepts pupils from another school district in accordance with a voluntary interdistrict urban-suburban transfer program designed to reduce racial isolation which is approved by the commissioner in accordance with regulations adopted by him for such purpose shall be eligible for aid pursuant to this subdivision." The funding provided by the State enables the transferring student to matriculate as a non-resident student without being required to pay tuition, which would normally be required.

Under the regulations, school districts seeking aid based on their participation in such a program must submit a joint application for approval of the program to the Commissioner of Education each year. Among other things, the districts must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the Commissioner "that the program will reduce racial isolation by transferring minority pupils, nonminority pupils or both on a voluntary basis between participating urban and suburban districts." 8 N.Y.C.R.R. § 175.24(c)(1). While the districts must submit "data showing anticipated decreases in the number and percentage of minority pupils in the schools of the participating urban district and anticipated increases in the number and percentage of minority pupils in the schools of one or more participating suburban districts ...," however, the State does not prescribe any particular method of achieving that goal, leaving it instead for the participating districts to describe in their application for funding "the evaluation methodology to be used." N.Y.C.R.R. § 175.24(b)(2)(v), (c)(1).

As the Program is currently administered, only minority pupils are allowed to transfer from city schools to suburban schools. White students may be transferred from suburban schools to the city, provided that the transfer "do[es] not negatively affect the racial balance of the receiving school ...." RCSD Directory 1997-98 (Cooman Aff. Ex. G) at 19. There is no statement or definition of the proper "racial balance" that should be maintained.

State regulations define "minority pupil" as "a pupil who is of Black or Hispanic origin or is a member of another racial minority group that historically has been the subject of discrimination." 8 N.Y.C.R.R. § 175.24(a)(1) (emphasis added). Defendant Theresa J. Woodson, Director of the Urban-Suburban Interdistrict Transfer Program, states in an affidavit that under the Program, students of Asian or American Indian origin are also considered to be minority pupils eligible for transfer to suburban schools. Woodson Aff., ¶ 8.

The participating districts' joint application to the Commissioner of Education for the 1996-97 school year indicates that overall, the suburban districts reported a minority student population of less than ten percent, while the RCSD reported a minority student population of about eighty percent. Cooman Aff. Ex. B. As of July 1997, the RCSD's total student population from kindergarten through twelfth grade was 37,153, which means that the number of minority students was roughly 29,700. Id. Ex. G. The RCSD reported that 591 minority students had...