Diaz v. SAN JOSE UNIFIED SCH. DIST.

• Decision Date: 01 January 1976
• Docket Number: No. C-71-2130 RFP.,C-71-2130 RFP.
• Citation: 412 F. Supp. 310
• Parties: Arnulfo M. DIAZ et al., Plaintiffs, v. SAN JOSE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of California

412 F. Supp. 310

Arnulfo M. DIAZ et al., Plaintiffs, v. SAN JOSE UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants.

No. C-71-2130 RFP.

United States District Court, N. D. California.

January 1, 1976.

Stephen V. R. Manley, Community Legal Services, Richard J. Wylie, Wylie, Leahy, Blunt & McBride, San Jose, Cal., for plaintiffs.

William M. Siegel, County Counsel, Leland D. Stephenson, Deputy County Counsel, San Jose, Cal., for defendants.

OPINION

PECKHAM, District Judge.

I. PROCEDURAL HISTORY

Plaintiffs, parents of Spanish-surnamed American children attending public school in the San Jose Unified School District, bring this action on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated. They charge that defendants, the San Jose Unified School District, its Superintendent, and members of its Board of Education, have purposefully operated and maintained a segregated public school system in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. Defendants admit the existing racial imbalance in the school system, but argue that ethnic imbalance results not from defendants' intentional conduct but from demographic and residential patterns over which they have no control. Jurisdiction is vested in this court by 28 U.S.C. §§ 1343(3), 1343(4) and 42 U.S.C. § 1983.

On November 4, 1971, plaintiffs instituted this action and sought a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction to restrain defendants from completing construction of the following schools until the court could determine the merits of this case:

College Park Elementary Anne Darling Elementary Gardner Elementary Hester Elementary Jefferson Elementary Lincoln Glen Elementary¹ Longfellow-Edison (combined elementary/continuation)² Lowell Elementary Mann Elementary Olinder Elementary Washington Elementary Roosevelt Junior High Wilson Junior High

On November 4, this court denied plaintiffs' ex parte application for a temporary restraining order and issued an order to show cause. After a hearing on November 10, 1971, the court issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting construction of almost all³ of the schools slated for reconstruction pending a hearing on plaintiffs' motion for preliminary injunction.

After extensive oral argument on December 17, 1971, this court denied plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction. In the opinion dated January 12, 1972, the court concluded that on the record presently available:

. . . this Court does not believe that such ethnic imbalance alone constitutes a violation of plaintiffs' civil rights. As the Sixth Circuit recently pointed out in Davis v. School District of City of Pontiac, Inc., 443 F.2d 573 (6th Cir.), cert. denied, 40 U.S.L.W. 3192 404 U.S. 913, 92 S.Ct. 233, 30 L.Ed.2d 186 (1971), `a school district has no affirmative obligation to achieve a balance of the races in the schools when the existing imbalance is not attributable to school policies or practices and is the result of housing patterns and other forces over which the school administration had no control.' 443 F.2d at 575.

Plaintiffs cannot hope to succeed on the merits, then, unless they can demonstrate how the defendant School District has acted to create ethnic imbalance in the San Jose schools. After examining the evidence plaintiffs have offered in support of a preliminary injunction this Court can find no instances where defendant School District has acted impermissibly. The evidence shows that defendant School District has adhered to a `neighborhood school policy,' with the result that ethnic composition of the schools merely reflects residential patterns. This is not a case like Spangler v. Pasadena City Bd. of Education, 311 F.Supp. 501 (D.Colo.1970); Keyes v. School District Number 1, Denver, Colo., 313 F.Supp. 61 (D.Colo.1970), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 445 F.2d 990 (10th Cir. 1971); or Davis v. School District of City of Pontiac, Inc., supra, where the defendant school districts claimed to be following a neighborhood school policy, but conveniently refrained from strict adherence to that policy when it appeared to be leading to increased integration.

Accordingly, the Court finds that given the evidence available at this stage in the litigation, there is an insufficient likelihood that plaintiffs will prevail on the merits to warrant the issuance of a preliminary injunction; and plaintiffs' motion is hereby DENIED.

Trial on the merits was held on July 16, 18-19, 23-25 and August 6, 8-9, 16 and 20, 1974. A transcript was prepared and the parties were ordered to submit proposed findings of fact and conclusions of law. The court heard oral argument on April 30, May 1 and May 13, 1975.

II. THE PARTIES

Plaintiffs in this action are Arnulfo M. Diaz and Socorro Diaz, as parents and next friends of Fernando Diaz, Miguel A. Diaz and Juan F. Diaz; Jose Vasquez, as parent and next friend of David Vasquez, Susan Vasquez and Jody-Lynn Vasquez.

When this action was filed in November, 1971, each of the six named minor plaintiffs attended either junior high school or high school within defendant San Jose Unified School District. By 1973, when the trial commenced, two of the student plaintiffs attended either junior high school, high school, or continuation schools, and both were expected to enroll and continue in San Jose high schools for the school year 1974-1975.

Defendants are the San Jose Unified School District ("school district"), a political subdivision and school district of the State of California; Charles Knight, individually and as District Superintendent of the San Jose Unified School District; Neil H. Geier, Jr.; Elizabeth J. Allen; Edwin P. Jones, Jr.; Mary K. McCreath; and Donald L. Raimondi, individually and as members of the Board of Education of the San Jose Unified School District ("board") as of November, 1971, when this action commenced. During the pendency of this action, Phillip L. Hammer replaced Edwin P. Jones, Jr. as a board member, effective July 1, 1973, and having appeared as a party herein through counsel of record is hereby substituted as a party in place of Mr. Jones.

This is a class action brought pursuant to Rule 23, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, the class consisting of all Spanish-surnamed students enrolled in the San Jose Unified School District and their parents. Spanish-surnamed Americans are the only substantial minority group in the district.

III. GENERAL BACKGROUND

San Jose Unified School District is a political subdivision of the State of California operated by and pursuant to state law. General direction and control of the district is vested in the Board of Education comprised of five members who are elected to four-year terms. The Chief Executive Officer of the school district is the Superintendent of Schools.

From 1963 through 1974, the following persons held positions as Superintendent and board members of the district:

                         Superintendent                    Board Members
                         1963  Crandall    Jones      Gunderson    Gale      Butcher      Douglass
                         1964  Crandall    Jones      Gunderson    Gale      Butcher      Geier
                                                                                          (8/6/64)
                         1965  Crandall    Jones      Gunderson    Gale      Butcher      Geier
                         1966  Downing     Jones      Gunderson    McCreath  Butcher      Geier
                               (7/1/66)
                         1967  Downing     Jones      Gunderson    McCreath  Butcher      Geier
                         1968  Downing     Jones      Gunderson    McCreath  Butcher      Geier
                         1969  Downing     Jones      Hopkins      McCreath  Raimondi     Geier
                                                      (5/1/69)               (7/1/69)
                         1970  Knight      Jones      Hopkins      McCreath  Raimondi     Geier
                               (7/1/70)
                         1971  Knight      Jones      Allen        McCreath  Raimondi     Geier
                                                      (7/1/71)
                         1972  Knight      Jones      Allen        McCreath  Raimondi     Geier
                         1973  Knight      Hammer     Allen        McCreath  Raimondi     Geier
                                           (7/1/73)
                         1974  Knight      Hammer     Allen        McCreath  Raimondi     Geier
                

The district is situated in Santa Clara County, with the northerly terminus being located approximately at the intersections of Highway 17 and Highway 101 (Bayshore Freeway) in the City of San Jose, California. It extends south in a banana-like shape through central San Jose, approximately 16⁴ air miles to a point beyond the Almaden Valley area. The width of the district varies along its length from four air miles maximum to one and one-half air miles minimum across in an east-west direction, the narrowest portion being located approximately at the southern boundaries of Broadway and Washington Elementary Schools. The driving distance of the district totals almost 20 miles. The extreme north and south schools, Bachrodt and Hacienda, while only 12.2 air miles apart, are separated by 17 miles' driving distance along the major north-south transportation route which winds through central San Jose.

The northern one-half of the district is composed of residential neighborhoods, the San Jose Municipal Airport, a Civic Center and central San Jose. The makeup of the area has been altered by urban renewal, freeway construction and acquisition, extension of industrial, commercial and office facilities, and expansion of the airport. The southern half of the district is primarily a suburban area which developed from the late 1950's throughout the 1960's.

Since World War II, ethnic minorities have been increasingly concentrated in San Jose's northern downtown area. While the total population in the downtown area increased only slightly between 1950 and 1960, the minority population more than tripled.

In 1950, the school district consisted of a total of 24 schools: 16 elementary schools, 5 junior high schools, and 3 high schools. The northern boundaries of the district were extended by the ...