Independent School Dist. v. Salvatierra, 8515.

• Decision Date: 29 October 1930
• Docket Number: No. 8515.,8515.
• Citation: 33 S.W.2d 790
• Parties: INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST. et al. v. SALVATIERRA et al.
• Court: Texas Court of Appeals

33 S.W.2d 790

INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DIST. et al. v. SALVATIERRA et al.

No. 8515.

Court of Civil Appeals of Texas. San Antonio.

October 29, 1930.

Rehearing Denied December 24, 1930.

Appeal from District Court, Val Verde County; Joseph Jones, Judge.

Suit by Jesus Salvatierra and others against the Independent School District, known as the Inhabitants of the Town of Del Rio, and others. Judgment granting an injunction, and defendants appeal.

Reversed, and injunction dissolved.

Boggess, LaCrosse & Lowrey and Brian Montague, all of Del Rio, for appellants.

John L. Dodson, of Del Rio, M. C. Gonzales, of San Antonio, and J. T. Canales, of Brownsville, for appellees.

SMITH, J.

On January 7, 1930, the board of trustees of the independent school district embracing the city of Del Rio, ordered an election to be held within the district on February 1, 1930, to determine if the district should issue and sell its bonds in the sum of $185,000, "for the purpose of constructing and equipping public free school buildings of material other than wood and the purchase of the necessary sites therefor in said school district," and authorizing the levy and collection of taxes to pay off said bonds. At the ensuing election the proposition was adopted, and in due course the bonds were issued and sold. The validity of the election and of the issuance and sale of the bonds is not in question in this appeal.

The district owns, and its school buildings are located upon, a unit of land, oblong but irregular in shape, with an apparent approximate length of 1,200 feet. At the time the bond issue was voted there were four school buildings and a school athletic field upon this property, located as follows, from east to west: The high school, two elementary schools, the athletic field, and the third elementary school, designated the "Mexican" or "West End" school, consisting of two rooms. The program adopted by the trustees as a result of the bond issue provided for the construction of a new senior high school building, and remodeling and enlarging the elementary schools. The "West End" school, constructed of brick and tile, was to be enlarged by adding five rooms, including an auditorium of the same material.

It developed upon the trial that the West End building had been used for housing and teaching children exclusively of Spanish or Mexican descent who are in elementary grades up to and including the "low third." The district superintendent and one of the principals undertook in their testimony to explain the causes and purposes of this classification, or, as it amounts to, segregation. It was explained that as much as or more than half of those pupils go each autumn with their families to other localities where they engage in picking cotton or other farm work until the school terms are well advanced. Other pupils, entering at the beginning of the term, have thus progressed materially into the year's work, and it is the theory of the school authorities that the late comers will be handicapped in their morale and work if allocated with those having from one to four months' advantage over them in attendance, training, and progress. The superintendent testified as follows in elaboration of this situation:

"Well we had a peculiar situation as regards people of Spanish or Mexican extraction here. We found a great percentage of those people are at work in cotton fields and on ranches, and some of them go entirely out of the district in the fall season, that is, return in the fall and enter school late and in considerable numbers, and where you have already organized your classes on a basis of a certain size which represents the most efficient instruction possible you are greatly hampered if a great number of people continue to drop in. The worst situation we have is in the first, second and third years, but it's bad all throughout the elementary grades. Classes normal in size at the beginning of the school year, because of that influx later in the season, become so large you can't manage them and of course they are retarded from the standpoint of enrollment, and there is a difference in ages in the same grades between children of Spanish or Mexican descent and those of Anglo-Saxon parentage. Partly for that reason and the language difficulty with which the overwhelming majority of children are hampered I directed that all the first three grades be set aside into the new two-room building and into the vocational agricultural building. I made that provision for the first three grades and organized on that basis.

"I was not actuated by any motive of segregation by reason of race or color in doing what I said I did. The whole proposition was from a standpoint of instruction and a fair opportunity of all children alike. That was the only consideration I had in the matter. There are decided peculiarities of children of Mexican or Spanish descent which can be better taken care of in those elementary grades by their being placed separately from the children of Anglo-Saxon parentage, because the average Spanish speaking children know English as a foreign tongue, and consequently when you put him in a class with English speaking children and teach him according to the method of teaching English speaking children he is greatly handicapped, and we have that handicap extending clear up into High School in all content subjects, such as English and History, and where they come along together in the same grade we find again and again the children are handicapped because they are slow in reading English and read it with difficulty, and as a consequence fail in considerable numbers in English and History. Now in mathematics they are very apt where the language difficulty does not obtain, and often make more progress than the American children. In other words, the child of Spanish or Mexican extraction in Mathematics is liable to progress more rapidly than the children of American extraction, age being the same he will progress about the same degree; but the situation we have here is different, and that brings another aspect into the question. The truth is that most of these Spanish speaking children, by reason of the fact that they attend school only a part of the year, are more greatly retarded, and I find from a check up we made again just yesterday that the difference in age in the given grade between the Anglo-Saxon child and the Spanish or Mexican child is anywhere from two to four years."

The superintendent further testified:

"Yes, I have stated that I placed the first three grades of Mexican children over in this two room building that was completed during the summer. My purpose in doing that was simply to instruct that group according to their own peculiar needs. To develop a curriculum in English that would enable them to cope in competition on equal terms with children in higher grades when they reached those classes. I never thought of denying any child or children in those elementary grades now being schooled in the two room building, or do I contemplate denying to them any educational advantages or facilities which are accorded to the children of Anglo Saxon extraction. No, indeed, I don't contemplate denying them any such privilege. As a matter of fact that is the best equipped and most pleasant elementary school situation we have. No, I wouldn't say those children are being given privileges or advantages which the children of Anglo-Saxon extraction are not being given, but they are better housed than any we have in the same grades; and we have competent teachers for that peculiar class of students. By reason of their being there and by reason of their having teachers of that character, I think they have better opportunities because of the fact that their teachers are specialized in the matter of teaching them English and American citizenship. It's my plan not only to do that but to develop certain other talents they have. I have noticed that the Spanish speaking children are unusually gifted in music, above the American children, and I believe that phase of their talents ought to be developed, and I so stated to the Parent-Teachers Association of the Latin-American Association. And if our plan of operation is unhampered we contemplate giving them facilities for development of this musical talent; and in art, on an average, I find they are superior to the American child in this talent, and I believe their work should include art and a good deal of handicraft work at the first grade. By nature I feel they are endowed with special facilities for this work. I want to develop that art talent just as fast as we can get a faculty that can carry on. * * *

"Yes, I testified a while ago relative to some of the Mexicans going off to the cotton fields and the other places and coming in late and attending only part of the year, and presumably that was one reason why I wished to make separate provision for them. Yes, there are other children, American English speaking children who come in late, but a very small per cent of them. No, I did not send any of those English speaking children who came in late over to the school where I sent the Mexican or Spanish speaking children, because there were so few there was nothing to worry about with them. I only sent the Spanish speaking children over there, those who came in late. Yes, it's true, generally the best way to learn a language is to be associated with the people who speak that language. * * *

"My observation as to the association is that it does not have the value on the play ground generally attributed to it. While it is true that the children mingle to a certain extent on the play ground, yet there is a tendency on the part of both groups to stay to themselves and to speak their language to each other. I have observed that all along from the first grade and on through the high school, you see them gather up into little groups. On the other hand when it comes to teaching the child, if you...