Evans v. Buchanan

• Decision Date: 26 June 1961
• Docket Number: Civ. A. No. 1816-1822.
• Citation: 195 F. Supp. 321
• Parties: Brenda EVANS et al., Plaintiffs, v. Madeline BUCHANAN et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Delaware

195 F. Supp. 321

Brenda EVANS et al., Plaintiffs, v. Madeline BUCHANAN et al., Defendants.

Civ. A. Nos. 1816-1822.

United States District Court D. Delaware.

June 26, 1961.

Louis L. Redding and Leonard L. Williams, Wilmington, Del., for plaintiffs.

Januar D. Bove, Jr., Atty. Gen., of State of Delaware, for State Bd. of Education and State Superintendent of Public Instruction.

James M. Tunnell, Jr., of Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, Wilmington, Del., for Local Bds. of Milford, Laurel and Seaford Special School Dists.

Everett F. Warrington, Georgetown, Del., for Bd. of Trustees of Milton Consolidated School Dist. No. 8; Ellendale Elementary Public School Dist. No. 195; Lincoln Elementary Public School Dist. No. 194; Milton Elementary Public School Dist. No. 196 and Slaughter Neck Elementary Public School Dist. No. 193.

N. Max Terry, Dover, Del., for Bd. of Trustees of Caesar Rodney Special School Dist.

CALEB M. WRIGHT, Chief Judge.

This is a class action instituted by Negro children to compel their admission into public schools of the State of Delaware on a racially nondiscriminatory basis. Summary judgment for plaintiffs was granted by Judge Leahy in 1957. Evans v. Buchanan, D.C.D.Del.1957, 152 F.Supp. 886. In 1959 a proposed plan of integration submitted by the State Board of Education was approved by Judge Layton with certain modifications. D.C., 172 F.Supp. 508; D.C., 173 F.Supp. 891. Plaintiffs appealed, and the Court of Appeals found the approved plan "does not effect desegregation `with all deliberate speed' and is not a `reasonable start toward full compliance' with the ruling of the Supreme Court in its Brown opinion of May 17, 1954 Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873." Evans v. Ennis, 3 Cir., 1960, 281 F.2d 385, 387.

The mandate of the Court of Appeals required that defendants admit the individual, named, infant plaintiffs actively seeking integration. It further ordered the members of the State Board of Education of Delaware and the State Superintendent of Public Instruction to submit a plan for approval by this Court providing generally:

(A) for the integration at all grades of the public school system at the fall term 1961, and at all subsequent school terms, of all Negro school children who desire integration subject to the usual processing of the school system; and

(B) for a "wholly integrated" school system, whereby adequate school facilities at all grades will be provided on a racially nondiscriminatory basis.

The mandate of the Court of Appeals envisages two separate but parallel streams flowing concurrently toward the same goal, a "wholly integrated" school system in which all students compelled by law to attend Delaware public schools will receive education on a racially nondiscriminatory basis.¹ Part (A) of the plan must allow Negro students desiring integration to transfer immediately to white or integrated schools as a matter of right subject only to the usual and nondiscriminatory processing of the school system. Part (B), however, looks to the future and must provide for the ingredients of a wholly integrated system. It must further look to the interim period when the number of Negro students desiring integration increases and provide adequate facilities and procedures to accommodate them.

With certain modifications, the plan submitted by defendants is approved as to both aspects.

(A) - Plan of Integration for Students Presently Desiring It.

Part (i) of defendants' proposed plan provides for the registration of Negro students desiring to transfer to white or integrated schools. Plaintiffs have objected to this "special registration" as they term it. Their objection is not well-taken for two reasons. First, defendants have in their brief² and at oral argument assured the Court this registration applies to all pupils, white and Negro, entering the first grade or transferring within a school district. Second, because the Court of Appeals has ordered immediate integration only of those pupils actively seeking it, some procedure must be devised so as to determine who they are.³ Plaintiffs have not suggested any method which would be more satisfactory to them. Part (i), with certain other modifications as to form rather than substance, will be approved.

Part (ii) of defendants' plan provides that such transfers shall be subject to the usual processing of the school system which shall take into account the adequacy of the facilities of the receiving schools and such rules and regulations as relate to the capabilities of the pupils desiring transfer, their scholastic attainments, and geographical location. Several modifications must be made. First, the Court of Appeals concluded the number of Negro pupils who will presently seek integration will not overtax the educational facilities of the State. In view of this finding, transfers should not be subject in the first instance to such a test. Nevertheless, the Court is retaining jurisdiction of this cause, and should it appear that the influx is greater in particular instances than was anticipated, the Court will entertain an appropriate motion for temporary relief from its decree.⁴ Second, it must be made clear that the standard of geographical location relates only to the question of which white or integrated school the pupil desiring transfer shall attend. It may not, for instance, be used by local authorities to deny integration because the pupil seeking it lives nearer to a presently wholly colored school than to white or integrated facilities. This must be made clear in the plan. Third, part (ii) should explicitly provide that the "usual processing" be conducted on a nondiscriminatory basis.

Part (iii) of defendants' plan provides that in districts having both white and Negro schools, attendance areas shall be established on a nondiscriminatory basis. It establishes other procedures not relevant here. While the Court does not disapprove these provisions, it is not appropriate to include such generalized schemes in this plan. Because the Court is retaining jurisdiction, any school district, or other appropriate body, desiring to establish such attendance areas or other procedures designed to effectuate integration, may appear before this Court at any time and present its plan. Upon approval, the district will then be exempted from the transfer provisions of this Court's decree.

Part (iv) of defendants' plan relates to the so-called Tuition Act, 14 Del. C.Ann. § 602 (1960 Cumm.Supp.),⁵ which prohibits the transfer of a pupil from one district to another when the sending district has instruction at his grade level. It further conditions permissible transfers on the payment of tuition by the sending district. Because school districts in some instances have been established on a segregated basis and are thus wholly Negro or wholly white, this statute would effectively prohibit or qualify some transfers contemplated by this plan. Part (iv), as submitted by defendants, provides in effect the provisions of the Tuition Act shall apply to all transfers under this plan absent an act of the Delaware General Assembly or an order of this Court. The Tuition Act is not discriminatory on its face, for it is applicable to all transfers between districts, whether they be segregated or integrated. Because of this, it does not violate the 14th Amendment of the United States Constitution, except to the extent it prohibits or conditions effectuation of the plan presently before the Court. But to that extent, and that extent only, it can be of no effect. The plan should so provide.

Part (v) of defendants' plan purports to establish nondiscriminatory rules relating to "migrants". Nothing in the present plan is intended to prohibit nondiscriminatory procedures for the education of so-called migrant children. There is also no authority in this Court to establish or approve any such procedures so long as they do not relate to the problem of integration. Because of this, part (v) must be excluded.

Part (vi) relates to transportation and will be approved with one modification. It should explicitly state that the transportation for pupils transferred to white or integrated schools pursuant to this plan will be provided on a racially nondiscriminatory basis.

Part (A), therefore, as modified and renumbered, will read as follows:

(A) Commencing with the start of the fall term, 1961, all public school districts in the State of...