George v. O'KELLY, 30404.
| Citation | 448 F.2d 148 |
| Decision Date | 01 June 1971 |
| Docket Number | No. 30404.,30404. |
| Parties | Cynthia, Mary Lee, and Flora Ann GEORGE, et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. H. B. O'KELLY et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | United States Courts of Appeals. United States Court of Appeals (5th Circuit) |
Howard Moore, Jr., Peter E. Rindskopf, Atlanta, Ga., Jack Greenberg, Sylvia Drew, New York City, Elizabeth R. Rindskopf, Atlanta, Ga., Bobby L. Hill, Savannah Ga., for plaintiffs-appellants.
Arthur K. Bolton, Atty. Gen., A. Joseph Nardone, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, Ga., Homer S. Durden, Jr., Swainsboro, Ga., Alfred L. Evans, Jr., Asst. Atty. Gen., Harold N. Hill, Jr., Executive, Asst. Atty. Gen., Atlanta, Ga., for defendants-appellees.
Before WISDOM, Circuit Judge, DAVIS*, Judge, and GOLDBERG, Circuit Judge.
This case deals with remedial education programs in a school system undergoing desegregation. Unfortunately, the plaintiffs have concentrated too much of their effort here on the improper past actions of the school board. The rights and wrongs of the specific past actions are no longer the subject of dispute. There is, however, still a live issue. That is the present and future operation of the remedial program. We remand the case to the district court for further consideration.
The public school system of Candler County, Georgia, is 58 percent white and 42 percent black. There are three schools in the system. Prior to the 1970-71 school year one of the schools was a twelve-year all-black school; one was an overwhelmingly white elementary school and one was an overwhelmingly white high school. During the winter of 1969-70, the school system was ordered to dismantle its segregated program and to cluster its three schools so that all children in each grade would be in the same school. Having agreed to comply with the court order, the school district became eligible for federal funds that had previously been cut off for noncompliance with the desegregated guidelines.
Under Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, 20 U.S.C. § 241a et seq., the school system was eligible for grants amounting to $120,000 for support of programs to meet "the special educational needs of educationally deprived children." In February 1970 the county school board decided not to apply for these funds. At the time of the decision the statute provided that, if the funds were not used by the county for a summer program, they would be redistributed to other counties in Georgia. The board's reasons for deciding to pass up the opportunity to use these funds are uncertain. The appellants alleged that it was simply because, under the board's incorrect understanding of the federal guidelines, only black children would benefit from a Title I-funded summer program.
Parents of black children sued in federal district court to require the board to apply for and make use of the funds to conduct a summer program. They contended that the board should be required to do this for two reasons: 1) the board's motive in refusing to apply for the funds was unconstitutional; 2) as part of its affirmative duty to dismantle the dual school system, the board had a duty to make use of the funds to provide remedial education to prepare black students for their first year in an integrated school system. The plaintiffs named as defendants the county school superintendent, the members of the county school board, and the state superintendent of schools.
The district court for the Northern District of Georgia, Atlanta Division, where the plaintiffs filed the action, transferred the case to the district court for the Southern District of Georgia. That court held a hearing June 10, 1970. By the time of the hearing, an important change had occurred in the law. Money not used by the county for a summer program would no longer immediately be redistributed to other counties. This money would now be available for the school board's use during the regular 1970-71 school year.
At the hearing the school superintendent explained the decision not to have a summer program with three reasons. First, still operating under a misimpression about restrictions on the composition of the summer program, the superintendent said the board had decided that it would be better to spend the money during the school year when it could benefit both black and white educationally deprived children than during the summer when it could be used only for black children. Second, he said that renovations required by the change of grade structure in the school buildings would prevent the use of the buildings for a summer program. Third, he said that the person...
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United States v. Texas Education Agency
...for retarded students. These techniques, however, may not be used as a substitute for adequate desegregation. See George v. O'Kelly, 5 Cir. 1971, 448 F.2d 148; Banks v. Claiborne Parish, 5 Cir. 1970, 425 F.2d C. Faculty and Professional Staff. In United States v. Montgomery County Board of ......
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Milliken v. Bradley
...opportunities resulting from past or present racial and ethnic isolation . . .' 447 F.2d, at 448.16 See also George v. O'Kelly, 448 F.2d 148, 150 (C.A.5 1971). And, as school desegregation litigation emerged in other regions of the country, federal courts have likewise looked in part to rem......
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Board of Ed., Cincinnati v. Department of HEW
...within the scope of its authority in implementing the mandate of § 1605(d)(1)(C) in the manner that it has chosen. Cf. George v. O'Kelly, 448 F.2d 148 (5 Cir., 1971). We hold that these regulations are not "arbitrary and unreasonable," but, rather, that they are well designed for the purpos......
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School District, Pontiac v. Secretary Dept. Educ.
...to students in low-income schools, and its purposes included overcoming "any effects of past racial discrimination." George v. O'Kelly, 448 F.2d 148, 151 (5th Cir.1971); accord Barrera v. Wheeler, 475 F.2d 1338, 1340 (8th Cir.1973); United States v. Jefferson County Bd. of Educ., 372 F.2d 8......