Baker v. Columbus Municipal Separate School District

• Decision Date: 23 June 1971
• Docket Number: No. EC 70-52.,EC 70-52.
• Citation: 329 F. Supp. 706
• Parties: Bettye Joe BAKER et al., Plaintiffs, v. COLUMBUS MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi

329 F. Supp. 706

Bettye Joe BAKER et al., Plaintiffs, v. COLUMBUS MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants.

No. EC 70-52.

United States District Court, N. D. Mississippi, E. D.

June 23, 1971.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Stephen J. Pollak and David Booth Beers, of Shea & Gardner, Washington, D. C., T. H. Freeland and G. A. Gafford, of Freeland & Gafford, Oxford, Miss., for plaintiffs.

Shields Sims, of Sims & Sims, Columbus, Miss., for defendants.

ORMA R. SMITH, District Judge.

FINDINGS OF FACT ON COUNT ONE

1. Plaintiffs in Count One of this action are the National Education Association (NEA), the Mississippi Teachers Association (MTA) and eight Negro teachers who taught in the Columbus Municipal Separate School District during the academic year 1969-70—Bettye Joe Baker, Willie Louis Dillard, Ester Harrison, Mildred Patricia Hubbard, Jesse Jones, Annie D. Prowell, Albert Williams, Jr., and Camille Burnadette Yates.

2. The NEA is a nationwide professional organization for educators. It has a direct interest in the standards and procedures used to employ teachers and frequently provides legal assistance to educators when their professional or civil rights are at stake. The MTA is a statewide professional organization for teachers and is an affiliate of the NEA. Most of its members are black. MTA members pay annual dues of $15.00. Some of the plaintiff teachers are members of the MTA.

3. The defendants are the Columbus Municipal Separate School District of Lowndes County, Mississippi; its Superintendent, James E. Goolsby; and its Board of Trustees, Carl McKellar, J. H. Edmonson, Tom Harvey, Jr., Mrs. John Holloman, and James M. Trotter. The Superintendent and the Board of Trustees are named as parties in their individual and official capacities.

4. Count One of the amended complaint alleges that defendants have unlawfully refused to reemploy black teachers and to hire black applicants for teaching positions. Plaintiffs pray, inter alia, for a permanent injunction preventing defendants from requiring inservice teachers and applicants for teaching positions to achieve a score of 1000 or more on the National Teachers Examination (NTE) as a pre-condition to retention and employment in the system. The amended complaint also seeks to recover costs, attorneys fees and damages sustained by those plaintiffs who were not reemployed by defendants for the academic year 1970-71 because of the test-score requirement. Defendants have denied the material allegations of the amended complaint and they deny that plaintiffs are entitled to any relief.

5. Pursuant to Rule 65(a) (2) of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, and the agreement of the parties, the trial on the merits was consolidated with the hearing on plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction and held on September 1 and 2, 1970. Following the hearing and closing arguments of counsel, this Court entered a preliminary injunction on September 3, 1970, requiring defendants to reemploy those teachers who had not obtained teaching positions for the 1970-71 school year, namely, Bettye Joe Baker, Mildred Patricia Hubbard, Jesse Jones and Melinda Blackmon.

The Racial Composition of the Columbus Municipal Separate School District.

6. During the academic year 1969-70, the student enrollment in the Columbus Public School was 8,865 students. The racial composition of the student body was approximately 5,392 white students or 61 per cent white, and approximately 3,473 black students or 39 per cent black.

7. At least until the commencement of the 1970-71 school year, the defendants operated a dual school system. In that system there was one white high school for grades 10-12; two white intermediate schools for grades 7-9; six white elementary schools for grades 1-6; one black school for grades 7-12; two black schools for grades 1-7; and two black elementary schools for grades 1-6. In 1969-70, all of the black schools were administered by black principals and all of the white schools by white principals. Eleven white teachers taught in the black schools and five black teachers taught in the white schools during the 1969-70 school year.

8. During August 1970, this Court entered a consent decree agreed to by the Columbus School District and the United States which required the district "beginning with the 1970-71 school year, to begin to operate a unitary system as required by the Supreme Court of the United States in Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education * * *" and "permanently enjoined defendants from discriminating on the basis of race * * *." United States v. Columbus Municipal Separate School District et al., Civ. No. EC 70-55-S. The order expressly incorporated the provisions of the Singleton decree. Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District, 419 F.2d 1211 (5th Cir. 1969) (en banc).

9. Defendants intended to reduce the size of the faculty by three positions for the 1970-71 school year. On the day before school opened, however, Superintendent Goolsby advised the Court that there were 36 vacancies on his staff. Thus, the 1970-71 school year commenced with a faculty that was 39 persons below the faculty for the preceding academic year, 1969-70. In all, there were 376 faculty members in 1969-70 and 337 faculty members as of September 3, 1970.

10. Between the academic years 1969-70 and 1970-71, the racial composition of the faculty changed substantially. The number of black teachers dropped from 133 to 103 and the number of white teachers dropped from 243 to 234. Thus, the number of black teachers on the faculty declined by 22 per cent and the number of white teachers on the faculty declined by 3 per cent.

11. Through September 3, 1970, defendants had hired 44 new teachers for the 1970-71 academic year. All but one were white.

12. The marked changes in the racial composition of defendants' faculty between the academic years 1969-70 and 1970-71 coincide with the changes in defendants' hiring and retention policy. On January 12, 1970, the Board of Trustees modified the procedures and requirements for hiring and reelection of teachers by adding to those procedures and requirements, effective for the 1970-71 academic year, the following:

Each classroom teacher that was employed to teach in the Columbus Public School System for the first time for the year 1969-1970 shall be required to have on file in the Superintendent's office a composite score of 1000 on the National Teachers Examination before they shall be considered for employment as a classroom teacher for the year 1970-71 and * * * all classroom teachers that were not employed by the Columbus Public Schools during the 1969-70 school year and all future classroom teachers that are employed shall be required to meet the above standards.

The Standards and Procedures Governing the Selection of New Teachers in Effect Prior to the Academic Year 1970-71.

13. Prior to January 12, 1970, the Columbus School District did not actively recruit new teachers. The central office provided application forms to candidates making inquiry. The form requested the applicant to supply personal and professional information including: prior education; teaching certificates; teaching experience; names, addresses, and occupation of six references; and the positions desired by the applicant. In addition, the applicant was requested to submit with the application form a picture and a transcript of credits.

14. Application forms completed by the candidate were kept on file in the central office so that principals could cull through them when they had vacancies to fill. In the event a principal decided to pursue an application, he would request the applicant's references and would interview the applicant. Then the principal, if so inclined, would recommend the applicant to the Superintendent.

15. The Superintendent would review the file of the recommended applicant and decide whether to recommend the applicant to the Board of Trustees. That Board made the final decision as to all new hires.

The Standards and Procedures for Reemployment of In-Service Teachers which Were in Effect Prior to the Academic Year 1970-71.

16. Mississippi teachers do not have the protections of a State teachers' tenure statute.

17. In March of each year all teachers in the Columbus School System have been asked to file forms stating whether they wish to be reelected for another year.

18. Also in or about March of each year, each principal has evaluated the teachers in his school on the basis of a rating form used throughout the school district. The principals rated the teachers on a scale of 0 to 5 with respect to each of 25 criteria:

Wholesome Personality

Appearance

Poise

Desirable Work Habits

Good Command of English

Good Physical and Mental Health

Proper Ethical Conduct

Interest in Self Improvement

Knowledge of Subject Matter and Methods of Instruction

Academic Requirements of Subject Matter or Grade Level

Willingness to Accept and Execute Policies and Assignments

Readiness to Share Ideas and Methods

Skill in Evaluating Pupils and Reporting to Parents

Willingness to Ask for and Accept Help

Participation in Professional Organizations and School Activities

Competency in Record Keeping

Follows Philosophy of Education for Columbus Public Schools

Concern for Physical Aspects of Room

Self-Discipline and Classroom Control

Consistency in Lesson Planning

Energy and Enthusiasm in Presenting Lesson

Skill in Giving Directions, Questioning and Testing

Use of Teaching Aids

Skill in Making Reasonable Homework and Research Assignments

Providing for Individual Instruction During Supervised Study Period

19. The rating form was first used in the 1964-65 school year. It was developed by committees of teachers and principals because Superintendent Goolsby was of the view "that we should prepare our own evaluative instrument rather than use one prepared by `outsiders' who were totally unaware of our philosophy of education or the conditions...