Dowell v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF OKLAHOMA CITY PUB. SCH., Civ. No. 9452.

Citation338 F. Supp. 1256
Decision Date01 February 1972
Docket NumberCiv. No. 9452.
PartiesRobert L. DOWELL, etc., et al., Plaintiffs, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF the OKLAHOMA CITY PUBLIC SCHOOLS et al., Defendants.
CourtU.S. District Court — Western District of Oklahoma

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

John W. Walker, Little Rock, Ark., for plaintiffs.

J. Harry Johnson, Oklahoma City, Okl., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER

BOHANON, Chief Judge.

This is another step in the struggle to implement the constitutional imperative for a unitary school system in the Oklahoma City School District. This case has been before this court in one posture or another for about ten years. Although unnecessary to detail every facet of the complex history of this litigation, every action of this court has been predicated upon the finding that as historically administered, the policies of the Defendant School Board have reflected a system of state imposed and state preserved segregation, and that because it had operated a state compelled dual system, the Defendant School Board was "clearly charged with the affirmative duty to take whatever steps might be necessary to convert to a unitary system in which racial discrimination would be eliminated root and branch." Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430, 437-438, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 1694, 20 L.Ed.2d 716 (1968).1

On August 30, 1971, the Court of Appeals directed this court to hold hearings for the purpose of determining the effectiveness of the plans heretofore approved for the junior and senior high-schools of Oklahoma City and to evaluate the expected effectiveness of the plan for the elementary schools, and then to put into effect forthwith whatever modification of either or both plans thereupon found necessary, or additional plans, to accomplish the desegregation of the Oklahoma City Public Schools in accordance with the guidelines set forth by the Supreme Court. Pursuant to this directive, hearings on these matters were conducted by the court on September 21, November 18, 19, and December 9, 1971. Appearing therein for the Plaintiffs was Mr. John W. Walker, Attorney at Law, Little Rock, Arkansas. The individual members of the Defendant School Board were present in person and with the Board's attorney, Mr. J. Harry Johnson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Three plans are presently before the court for consideration. First there is the current plan in operation in the Oklahoma City Public Schools. The School Board stoutly maintains this is adequate to meet constitutional requirements and has refused to present any other plan for the further desegregation of the Oklahoma City Public School System. It did suggest to the court the name of Dr. Harold H. Eibling, Superintendent of Schools, Columbus, Ohio, as being a person who is an expert in the field of education and in the field of school administration and one who is competent and qualified to evaluate, analyze, and propose a full and complete plan for the desegregation of the Oklahoma City School District. Following the recommendation of the Board, the court, on June 16, 1971, appointed Dr. Eibling to make a careful study in depth of the current plan adopted by the Oklahoma City School Board and to make a report and recommendation concerning the current plan and any modifications which might be necessary to meet constitutional requirements. Later Dr. Eibling requested that Dr. Forrest E. Conner of Washington, D. C., another expert recommended by the Defendant School Board, be appointed to assist him in his task. The "Consultants' Plan," together with the objections of the Defendant School Board was filed with the court on November 9, 1971. The Plaintiffs have submitted a plan prepared by Dr. John A. Finger, Providence, Rhode Island, a professor of education at Rhode Island State University and an expert in the field of desegregation and integration.

I CURRENT PLAN

The Public School System operated by the Defendant School Board is comprised of 86 regular elementary schools (K-6), one middle school (6-8), twelve junior highschools (7-9), eight senior highschools (10-12), Dunjee for grades 7-12, Star-Spencer for grades 9-12, and five special schools.2 On September 10, 1971, the total enrollment was 68,840: 76.6 per cent of these students were white and 23.4 per cent black. There are 31 schools attended entirely by students of one race. 78 per cent of the public schools are at least 90 per cent predominantly white or black.3

A. HIGHSCHOOLS.

The highschools are being operated under what is generally described as the Cluster Plan. The highschools have been divided into two clusters. Cluster A includes Capitol Hill, Douglass, Grant, and Southeast Highschools; Cluster B includes Classen, Marshall, Northeast and Northwest Highschools. Dunjee and Star-Spencer Highschools, while nominally attached to Cluster B, because of their remote location serve only as homesite schools. Each cluster contains one highschool with a majority black enrollment. This court approved a "COMPREHENSIVE PLAN FOR COMPLETE DESEGREGATION OF SENIOR AND JUNIOR HIGHSCHOOLS OF THE OKLAHOMA CITY PUBLIC SCHOOL SYSTEM AFTER 1969-1970 SCHOOL YEAR" on January 16, 1970, which was affirmed by the Court of Appeals which, however, noted:

"It is of course apparent that the real and ultimate issue in any case such as this is the actual effectiveness of the plan proposed. This is difficult to predict in this instance since the Plan here presented is a virtually untried method and one departing widely from customary school attendance and scheduling practices." Dowell v. Board of Education of Oklahoma City Public Schools, 430 F.2d 865, 868 (CA 10 1970).

The current plan is not the plan approved by this court. The plan submitted provided:

"Under this plan, each secondary school will serve in a dual capacity. It will be a home-base school for students within its attendance area and will serve as a specialized center for a specified curricular area. For example, one school could serve as a Social Studies Center, another as a Science Center, another as a Math Center. Each school, in its role as home-base, will offer some elective courses and such activities as physical education, athletics, and music to its resident students; in its role as a specialized Center, it will offer a full range of courses in that curriculum area to students from several attendance areas, including its own.
. . . . . .
"... Within each cluster, individual schools will serve as home-base schools for students in their own attendance areas and as specialized schools for students from all schools within that cluster.
. . . . . .
"Students will spend varying amounts of time each week in each of the Centers, though not less than half the school day at any one Center." Emphasis supplied.

As conceived by the court from the language of the plan and the testimony in support,4 the school acting as a specialized center would offer all courses including the required courses in the subject area of specialization. No student could avoid attending the other schools within his cluster.

Although specifically directed by the court to carry out the terms of such plan as approved, the Defendant School Board, without notice to or permission by the court, proceeded to emasculate the plan. It eliminated social studies as a specialized area of one of the highschools of each cluster, although this subject had been included in the original plan submitted to the court. It did not concentrate a subject area specialization in only one senior highschool. At the present time in Cluster A, there are three highschools with advanced foreign language courses and three highschools offering advanced mathematics courses. In Cluster B, the same situation exists. This change obviously negated many of the advantages of specialization set forth in the plan which was submitted to the court with regard to concentration of material, staff, and supervision. Each home-base school was permitted to offer all of the required courses in the four areas of subject specialization.

These unauthorized basic changes in the implementation of the plan destroyed it as a tool of desegregation. The vast majority of the students in the senior highschools do not participate in the Cluster Plan. By electing certain subjects a student can spend his full three years in his home-base school, thereby thwarting any effective desegregation. Out of a total of 13,796 students enrolled in eight senior highschools participating in the Cluster Plan in September 1971, only 1,673 or approximately 12 per cent were participating in an interchange. The School Board presented no direct evidence of the actual numbers of black students participating in an interchange. However, the evidence strongly indicates that the ratio of black students participating is much less than for their white counterparts. By including only the advanced electives in the Cluster Plan, with few exceptions, only the high achievers are participating.

Stripped of the beautiful adjectives and the meaningless promises used to obscure its true intent and effect, the current Cluster Plan is simply a "freedom of choice" plan. It does not work and will not work to desegregate the schools. Of the eight highschools in the plan, four of the highschools are 98 per cent or more white, and one highschool is 100 per cent black. Dunjee is 98.2 per cent black. The impotency of the current plan to accomplish a unitary school system is graphically illustrated by a comparison of the enrollment figures submitted prior to the present plan and the present enrollment statistics.5 The trend is clearly toward resegregation. Douglass Highschool has again become a one-race school, and Northeast and Harding have become majority black schools. The classes within the cluster schools and the programs are largely segregated. Typically at Douglass, a black highschool, large numbers of white students arrive at the school and sit in white classrooms with few blacks. The...

To continue reading

Request your trial
14 cases
  • Dowell v. BD. OF EDUC. OF OKLAHOMA CITY PUB. SCH., No. CIV-61-9452-B.
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Western District of Oklahoma
    • November 7, 1991
    ...the Star-Spencer area, which the court exempted from the Finger Plan because of their geographic remoteness, Dowell v. Board of Education, 338 F.Supp. 1256 at 1268 (W.D.Okla.1972); Tr. at 212, 343, no elementary school in Oklahoma City had more than 57.4 percent black students. Only Johnson......
  • Morgan v. Kerrigan
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts
    • June 5, 1975
    ...5 Cir. 1972, 467 F.2d 848; United States v. Board of Educ. of Webster County, 5 Cir. 1970, 431 F.2d 59; Dowell v. Board of Educ. of Oklahoma City, W.D.Okla.1972, 338 F.Supp. 1256, aff'd, 10 Cir. 1972, 465 F.2d 1012, cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1041, 93 S.Ct. 526, 34 L.Ed.2d 490; Spangler v. Pasa......
  • Morgan v. Kerrigan
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — First Circuit
    • January 14, 1976
    ...3112, 41 L.Ed.2d 1069 (1974); Kelly v. Guinn, supra; Spangler v. Pasadena City Board of Education, supra; Dowell v. Board of Education, 338 F.Supp. 1256, 1264 (W.D.Okl.1972). Compare Hart v. Community School Board, 512 F.2d 37, 54--55 (2d Cir. 1975). Although Boston has had experience with ......
  • Cunningham v. Grayson
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Sixth Circuit
    • August 23, 1976
    ...Educ. Ass'n, 467 F.2d 848, 872-873 (5th Cir. 1972); United States v. Board of Educ., 431 F.2d 59, 61 (5th Cir. 1970); Dowell v. Board of Educ., 338 F.Supp. 1256 (W.D.Okla.), aff'd, 465 F.2d 1012 (10th Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1041, 93 S.Ct. 526, 34 L.Ed.2d 490 Since JCBE failed to prop......
  • Request a trial to view additional results
1 books & journal articles
  • Using litigation to address violence in urban public schools.
    • United States
    • Washington University Law Review Vol. 88 No. 4, May 2011
    • May 1, 2011
    ...to remedy past wrongs is broad.... " Id. at 15. (34.) See, e.g., Green v. Cnty. Sch. Bd., 391 U.S. 430 (1968), Dowell v. Bd. of Educ., 338 F. Supp. 1256 (W.D. Okla. (35.) Dowell, 338 F. Supp. at 1271. (36.) Brown v. Bd. of Educ., 349 U.S. 294, 300 (1955). (37.) Green, 391 U.S. 430, Dowell, ......

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT