Hodges By Hodges v. Public Bldg. Com'n of Chicago

• Decision Date: 14 September 1994
• Docket Number: No. 93 C 4329.,93 C 4329.
• Citation: 864 F. Supp. 1493
• Parties: Sheena HODGES, by her father and next friend, Willie HODGES, and Nikishia Hunter, by her mother and next friend Daucenia Hunter, each, solely on their own individual behalf; and, Dede, Teteh and Kwame Atiogbe, by their father and next friend Gotlieb Atiogbe, Jaime and Edgardo Duran, by their mother and next friend Elena Duran, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. PUBLIC BUILDING COMMISSION OF CHICAGO, Chicago Board of Education, and the City of Chicago, Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Illinois

864 F. Supp. 1493

Sheena HODGES, by her father and next friend, Willie HODGES, and Nikishia Hunter, by her mother and next friend Daucenia Hunter, each, solely on their own individual behalf; and, Dede, Teteh and Kwame Atiogbe, by their father and next friend Gotlieb Atiogbe, Jaime and Edgardo Duran, by their mother and next friend Elena Duran, on behalf of themselves and all others similarly situated, Plaintiffs, v. PUBLIC BUILDING COMMISSION OF CHICAGO, Chicago Board of Education, and the City of Chicago, Defendants.

No. 93 C 4329.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division.

September 14, 1994.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Patricia Mendoza, City of Chicago Bd. of Educ., Harvey Michael Grossman, Rocio deLourdes Cordoba, Roger Baldwin Foundation of ACLU, Inc., Chicago, IL, for Amari Mitchell, Ninette Boonstra, Carrie Boonstra, Jeremy Bartel.

Patricia Mendoza, City of Chicago Bd. of Educ., Colleen K. Connell, Harvey Michael Grossman, Rocio deLourdes Cordoba, Roger Baldwin Foundation of ACLU, Inc., Chicago, IL, for Nikishia Hunter, Dede Atiogbe, Teteh Atiogbe, Kwame Atiogbe, Jaime Duran, Sheena Hodges, Edgardo Duran.

Javier H. Rubinstein, James D. Holzhauer, Timothy Simon Bishop, Mayer, Brown & Platt, Richard Freund Friedman, Earl L. Neal, Langdon David Neal, Earl L. Neal & Associates, Chicago, IL, for Public Bldg. Com'n of Chicago.

Iris Ellen Sholder, Pamela Elana Cash, Miguel Angel Rodriguez, Michael Joseph Hernandez, City of Chicago Bd. of Educ., Chicago, IL, for Chicago Bd. of Educ.

Susan S. Sher, Susan R. Lichtenstein, Laure Ann Mullaney, Andrew S. Mine, City of Chicago, Law Dept., Corp. Counsel, Chicago, IL, for City of Chicago.

MEMORANDUM OPINION AND ORDER

CASTILLO, District Judge.

This suit centers around the proposed expansion of the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences ("CHSAS"). Plaintiffs are present and future African-American and Hispanic students and applicants of the CHSAS and their parents. They claim that the Public Building Commission of Chicago ("PBC"), the Chicago Board of Education ("CBOE"), and the City of Chicago ("City") blocked the construction of a much needed expansion of the CHSAS, and then scaled back the plans for expansion. This conduct, according to plaintiffs, constitutes intentional racial discrimination and breach of contract. The City and the PBC have moved to dismiss.¹ For the reasons set forth below, the motions are granted in part and denied in part.

FACTS²

The CHSAS is a Chicago magnet high school located in Mount Greenwood, Illinois. The school is situated adjacent to seventy-two acres of land and offers students a unique opportunity to study agriculture-related sciences in addition to the regular curriculum. The CHSAS is one of the success stories of Chicago's public school system. The school prepares its students for careers in diverse fields including agribusiness, commodities exchange, food sciences, horticulture, veterinary sciences, and federal food quality inspection. CHSAS students consistently have excelled academically. Approximately seventy percent of its students attend college and many of these students receive academic scholarships.

At present, the CHSAS is vastly over-crowded. In a space originally designed to hold 300 elementary students, the school presently serves 450 high school students. Each year, the school rejects several hundred applicants because of space constraints. For example, during the 1993-1994 school year, 912 students applied to the CHSAS for 110 openings in the freshman class. Ninety percent of the applicants were minorities.

The CHSAS has a diverse racial make-up. Seventy percent of the student body are African-American, fifteen percent are Hispanic, and fifteen percent are white. By contrast, the surrounding Mount Greenwood community is 98% white.

In 1984, the CBOE's staff began consulting with educational experts to determine the scope of the necessary expansion. The CBOE ultimately determined that facilities and enrollment of up to 1200 students would be educationally and economically appropriate.

In May 1990, the CBOE and the PBC entered into a contract whereby the PBC would sell bonds and construct an expanded facility for the CHSAS and the CBOE would lease the facility and levy a tax to pay the rent. When the CBOE made its last rent payment, the PBC would transfer title to the CBOE. The PBC agreed to build the expansion in conformity with the CBOE's Educational Specifications which provide that "the qualities of adaptability, flexibility and expansibility should be given strong consideration in planning the new facility," and the design "should attempt to make provision for appropriate structural, mechanical, electrical and architectural features which will allow for modifications to provide for an additional 25% increase in student capacity at some time in the future."

The PBC spent the next two years and $800,000 of the bond proceeds developing a set of detailed architectural and engineering plans. The plans provided for an immediate increase in enrollment to 600 students and sufficient space to accommodate another expansion of up to 1200 students. The CBOE approved these plans, and in July, 1991, the PBC filed an application for approval of the plans with the Chairman of the Committee on Zoning of the Chicago City Council. However, the PBC delayed moving forward with the application process for two years while it sought to win the support of the Mount Greenwood alderman, Virginia Rugai, without which the zoning committee would not approve a zoning application.

Alderman Rugai initially opposed the application because of issues raised by her constituency. Her constituents formally voiced concerns about (1) whether the funds for the expansion could be used on other areas if the expansion did not proceed; (2) whether enrollment would be capped at 600 students; (3) whether the plans could be designed so as to ensure that no more than 600 students could attend; (4) whether the community would be permitted to use the school's recreational facilities and classrooms; (5) whether the land would be farmed or used for livestock purposes; (6) whether a fence could be erected separating the school's property from private residential property; (7) whether measures could be taken to ease traffic around the school; and (8) whether students would be allowed to use Mount Greenwood Park. Although these concerns are not couched in racial terms, plaintiffs claim that racial animus is a significant factor in the community opposition to the CHSAS expansion. The expansion will result in an increased number of African-American and Hispanic students attending the CHSAS and, consequently, coming into the Mount Greenwood community.

As part of the effort to get the application approved, the PBC revised the design plans. The revised design was several thousand square feet smaller, placed a 600-student cap on enrollment, provided for mandatory local student recruitment, instituted a land use plan, and prohibited future construction on a portion of the CHSAS property. The revised design won Alderman Rugai's support, and on December 17, 1993, the PBC submitted a revised application to the zoning committee. Alderman Rugai spoke in favor of the revised plan before the zoning committee, and the application was approved. Shortly after, the Chicago City Council approved the zoning amendment embodying the revised zoning application.

Plaintiffs argue that defendants' failure promptly to construct the CHSAS expansion pursuant to the original plans has an intentionally discriminatory impact on African-American and Hispanic members of the CHSAS student body and applicant pool. According to plaintiffs, the local recruitment and enrollment dictate was intended to and will dilute minority enrollment. Further, the enrollment cap and the barriers to future expansion will deny eligible minority applicants, who otherwise would be admitted to the CHSAS, an opportunity to obtain an education in agricultural sciences. As a further consequence of the enrollment cap, local recruitment, and the limits on future expansion, minority applicants will have no choice but to enroll in racially isolated high schools — a result which directly contravenes the CBOE's efforts to reduce the racial isolation of minority students through magnet schools. Therefore, plaintiffs claim they have been denied equal and adequate educational facilities and benefits, and have suffered a diminished quality and level of educational services in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment (Count I), Title VI and its accompanying regulations (Counts II and III), the consent decree and desegregation plan entered in United States v. Board of Education, No. 80 C 5124 (N.D.Ill.) ("Consent Decree") (Count IV), and the lease agreement between the PBC and the CBOE ("Lease") (Count V). They seek declaratory and injunctive relief, damages, attorneys' fees and costs.

The PBC and the City have moved to dismiss the complaint. The PBC argues that plaintiffs fail to state a claim under Title VI because they cannot allege that the PBC or the CHSAS project receive federal funding. The City concedes that it receives federal funding, but argues that plaintiffs' claims still fail because they did not and cannot allege that they are the intended beneficiaries of any federal financial assistance received by the City relating to the CHSAS. Both defendants further argue that all of plaintiffs' claims are fatally defective because they fail to allege any facts sufficient to establish either of the necessary elements of an equal protection claim: that the defendants' alleged actions had a discriminatory effect, or that they were motivated by a discriminatory intent. With respect to plaintiffs' claim for violation of the Consent Decree, defendants argue that no such violation has occurred and, in any event, plaintiffs lack standing...