Coalition to Save Our Children v. Buchanan, Civ. A. No. 1816-1822 MMS.

• Decision Date: 02 July 1990
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 1816-1822 MMS.
• Citation: 744 F. Supp. 582
• Parties: COALITION TO SAVE OUR CHILDREN (formerly Brenda Evans, et al.), Plaintiffs, v. Madeline BUCHANAN, et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Delaware

744 F. Supp. 582

COALITION TO SAVE OUR CHILDREN (formerly Brenda Evans, et al.), Plaintiffs, v. Madeline BUCHANAN, et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. No. 1816-1822 MMS.

United States District Court, D. Delaware.

July 2, 1990.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Irving Morris, and Kevin Gross, of Morris, Rosenthal, Monhait & Gross, P.A., Wilmington, Del. (William L. Taylor, Washington, D.C., and Leonard L. Williams, Wilmington, Del. of counsel), for plaintiffs.

Bertram S. Halberstadt, of Wier & Halberstadt, Wilmington, Del., for intervening Hispanic plaintiffs.

David H. Williams, and Barbara D. Crowell, of Morris, James, Hitchens & Williams, Wilmington, Del., for defendant Red Clay School Dist.

Mason E. Turner, Jr., of Prickett, Jones, Elliott, Kristol & Schnee, and Marcia Rees, Deputy Atty. Gen., Dept. of Justice, Wilmington, Del., for defendant State Bd. of Educ.

OPINION

MURRAY M. SCHWARTZ, Senior District Judge.

This is the latest round in the lengthy litigation involving the desegregation of the public schools in Northern New Castle County. The history of this case has been rehearsed elsewhere, see, e.g., Evans v. Buchanan, 512 F.Supp. 839, 841 n. 1 (D.Del. 1981), and need not be recited again here. For the sake of completeness, however, a brief recounting is provided. This desegregation litigation traces its origins to 1956, when suit was filed as an outgrowth of the landmark decisions of the United States Supreme Court in Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873 (1954) (Brown I) and 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ct. 753, 99 L.Ed. 1083 (1955) (Brown II). The case was reactivated in 1971. In the mid-1970's, a three-judge court determined that the Wilmington schools, which had been de jure black schools prior to Brown I, continued to be racially identifiable and that Wilmington's dual school system had not been eliminated. Evans v. Buchanan, 379 F.Supp. 1218, 1223 (D.Del.1974). In a subsequent opinion, the three-judge court found inter-district de jure segregation involving the school districts in northern New Castle County. Evans v. Buchanan, 393 F.Supp. 428, 438 (D.Del.), aff'd, 423 U.S. 963, 96 S.Ct. 381, 46 L.Ed.2d 293 (1975). After three weeks of evidentiary hearings, the three-judge court rejected remedial plans proposed by the parties and ordered the schools in the segregated districts to be desegregated and reorganized. The responsibility for implementing the court's order was given to the State authorities. Evans v. Buchanan, 416 F.Supp. 328 (D.Del.1976), aff'd, 555 F.2d 373 (3d Cir.), cert. denied, 434 U.S. 880, 98 S.Ct. 235, 54 L.Ed.2d 160 (1977).

Upon the State's failure to submit a plan that would effectively eliminate the dual school system and the vestiges of de jure segregation, this Court entered an order consolidating the affected school districts into a single district ("1978 order"). The 1978 order addressed pupil assignment by requiring all students to attend schools in the former predominantly white districts for nine years and schools in the former predominantly black districts (the "City schools") for a minimum of three consecutive years (the "9-3 requirement"). Finally, the 1978 order required that a full 1-12 grade span be maintained within the City of Wilmington (the "City") and that at least one of the three former predominantly black high schools be used as a 10-12 grade center. Evans v. Buchanan, 447 F.Supp. 982 (D.Del.), aff'd, 582 F.2d 750 (3d Cir.1978), cert. denied, 446 U.S. 923, 100 S.Ct. 1862, 64 L.Ed.2d 278 (1980).

In 1981, after the Delaware General Assembly passed legislation empowering the Delaware State Board of Education ("State Board") to ensure compliance with the parameters set forth in the 1978 order, this Court approved division of the single consolidated district into four component school districts. Defendant Red Clay Consolidated School District ("Red Clay District" or "the District") is one of the four component districts. In May 1989, defendant State Board requested the Red Clay District to bring the racial composition of its student populations at each District school to within +/- 10% of the minority percentages for each grade level in the District by Fall 1991. (PX 1-47)¹ After a series of delays, the Red Clay Consolidated School Board ("Red Clay Board" or "the Board") submitted to the State Board on or about March 30, 1990 a plan to achieve compliance with the State Board's request ("the Plan"). The Plan described a fully developed student reassignment component ("mixed feeder plan") and a choice component to be developed and submitted to the State Board by September 1, 1990. The Plan contemplated implementation of both components in September 1991. (PX 3)

The Coalition to Save Our Children (the "Coalition" or "plaintiffs"), representative of the black plaintiff class in this case, filed a motion seeking a court order directing:

(1) the Red Clay District: (a) to implement by September 1990 such changes in feeder patterns as will accomplish substantial compliance with the plus or minus 10 percent requirement, without counting the students in the Bilingual Program at the Alexis I. duPont High School as part of the Black minority which has created the problem of a small number of Black students at the Alexis I. duPont High School which presently has and will have as proposed far fewer Black students than any of the other three high schools in the Red Clay District; (b) to implement by September 1991 such further changes as will assure full compliance; and (c) to include as an element of its plan a "choice" program only if it is consistent with full compliance and operates fairly and equitably to offer meaningful options to all students;

(2) the State Board to take such steps to monitor the actions of the Red Clay District as to assure that the deadlines included in paragraph (1) are met;

(3) the State Board to assure that the Coalition is fully consulted and heard in all State Board proceedings on the Red Clay District, including all meetings and hearings conducted by the State Board.

(Dkt. 1261) Essentially, the Coalition seeks implementation of the mixed feeder pattern portion of the Plan in September 1990. A bench trial was held before the court on June 12-15, 1990. The parties submitted post-trial memoranda, and oral argument was heard on June 25, 1990. This Opinion constitutes the court's findings of fact and conclusions of law with regard to plaintiffs' motion.²

At the outset, the court will address defendant Red Clay District's contention that the court lacks the power to order implementation of the mixed feeder plan even if it is satisfied that plaintiffs have made the requisite showing. In seeking an order directing the District to implement the mixed feeder plan in September 1990, the Coalition is in effect asking the court to modify its prior orders to require Red Clay to take additional remedial action to eliminate the vestiges of intentional discrimination still present in the District. The District argues this court is without power to order it to implement the mixed feeder plan for three reasons: (1) Red Clay is now and always has been in compliance with the court's 9-3 requirement and the other parameters of the court's remedial orders; (2) the alleged racial imbalances among certain Red Clay schools were not caused by intentional discriminatory acts by the District but rather result from demographic changes; and (3) an order requiring the District to implement the mixed feeder plan would be tantamount to an imposition of racial quotas in violation of the United States Supreme Court's decision in Pasadena City Bd. of Educ. v. Spangler, 427 U.S. 424, 96 S.Ct. 2697, 49 L.Ed.2d 599 (1976). Upon careful consideration of defendant Red Clay's arguments, the court concludes that it has the power to order Red Clay to implement the mixed feeder plan to eliminate the vestiges of prior segregation. The District's arguments will be addressed in turn.

Because the three-judge panel found a violation of plaintiffs' constitutional rights, the court has broad powers to fashion a remedy. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ., 402 U.S. 1, 15, 91 S.Ct. 1267, 1275, 28 L.Ed.2d 554 (1971) ("Once a right and a violation have been shown, the scope of a district court's equitable powers to remedy past wrongs is broad, for breadth and flexibility are inherent in equitable remedies."). When the court issued its remedial order in 1978, it retained jurisdiction over the litigation until transition to a unitary system is complete. Evans v. Buchanan, 447 F.Supp. at 1039. Since no finding of a unitary system has ever been made, the court retains its supervisory jurisdiction over the case and over its 1978 and 1981 remedial orders.

Remedial decrees in a school desegregation case, like other injunctions, may be modified if the party entitled to relief "demonstrates that the decree has not been effective in achieving the relief to which the plaintiff was entitled." Evans v. Buchanan, 512 F.Supp. 839, 849 (D.Del.1981) (citing United States v. United Shoe Corp., 391 U.S. 244, 251, 88 S.Ct. 1496, 1501, 20 L.Ed.2d 562 (1968)). The fact that the District has complied with the parameters of the 1978 order does not render the court powerless to order further remedial action. "Having once found a violation, the district judge and school authorities should make every effort to achieve the greatest possible degree of actual desegregation, taking into account the practicalities of the situation." Davis v. Board of School Commissioners, 402 U.S. 33, 37, 91 S.Ct. 1289, 1292, 28 L.Ed.2d 577 (1971). This affirmative duty is not limited to the implementation of a racially neutral assignment plan. E.g., Morgan v. Nucci, 831 F.2d 313, 321 (1st Cir.1987) ("Courts have recognized that the mere adoption of a racially neutral remedial plan is not tantamount to desegregation."). As the court found in United States v. Lawrence County School Dist., 799 F.2d 1031, 1043 (...