Manning v. School Bd. of Hillsborough County

• Citation: 28 F.Supp.2d 1353
• Decision Date: 04 December 1998
• Docket Number: No. 58-3554-CIV-T-17.,58-3554-CIV-T-17.
• Parties: Andrew L. MANNING, et al., Plaintiffs, v. THE SCHOOL BOARD OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Florida (formerly Board of Public Instruction of Hillsborough County, Florida), et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Middle District of Florida

28 F.Supp.2d 1353

Andrew L. MANNING, et al., Plaintiffs, v. THE SCHOOL BOARD OF HILLSBOROUGH COUNTY, Florida (formerly Board of Public Instruction of Hillsborough County, Florida), et al., Defendants.

No. 58-3554-CIV-T-17.

United States District Court, M.D. Florida, Tampa Division.

December 4, 1998.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Victor A. Bolden, Marianne Engelman Lado, Jacqueline A. Berrien, NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc., New York, NY, Warren H. Dawson, Dawson & Griffin, P.A., Tampa, FL, for Andrew L. Manning, Shayron B. Reed, Sanders B. Reed, plaintiffs.

Thomas M. Gonzalez, Thompson, Sizemore & Gonzalez, P.A., Walter Crosby Few, Few & Ayala, P.A., Tampa, FL, for Board of Public Instruction of Hillsborough County, FL, defendants.

ORDER

KOVACHEVICH, Chief Judge.

This cause comes before the Court on Defendants' Motion to Alter or Amend Judgment (Docket No. 822)¹ and the Plaintiffs' response (Docket No. 823).

As a preliminary matter, Defendants explain that they have begun to take appropriate steps, including scheduling meetings to conduct open discussions with Plaintiffs and soliciting input from the parents of school attending children and other members of the public. Moreover, Defendants emphasize that they are reviewing desegregation techniques which are available to them. These are certainly positive steps and the Court is anxious to see the results.

Nevertheless, Defendants request a further explanation of this Court's October 26, 1998, Order so that the parties will have a common interpretation of the Order. Defendants state that, "[d]espite numerous readings of the Order, the Defendants and their representatives and counsel are in substantial doubt as to exactly what actions they must, or indeed, may, take in order to satisfy the Court." However, Defendants stress that they do not seek a specific description of what means they may employ to meet the Court's requirements. In other words, Defendants seek a specific description of "the Court's requirements," not a means for meeting those requirements.

Notwithstanding, Defendants' second paragraph of their memorandum states:

The Court suggests that the Defendants "should evaluate desegregation tools which have been successful in other districts." (Order, page 109). It refers to "desegregative devices" which were available to the Defendants, but not used. (Order, page 61). It does not, however, describe these opportunities, nor does it provide any other direction.

Defendants then argue in a footnote, "[i]n fact, neither the Plaintiffs nor the Court has pointed to any specific action which the Defendants could or should have taken to meet their obligation to desegregate to the `maximum extent practicable.'" Contrary to Defendants' assertions, Defendants seek to be told, specifically, which desegregation tools to use.

The Court has already pointed to deficiencies in Defendants' desegregation performance and will not, in fact, describe "specific action" which can be taken. However, if Defendants are unable to discern the appropriate measures to take on their own, the Court will hire experts of its own choosing to carry out the task for Defendants, at Defendants' expense, of course.

In addition, Defendants emphasize that during the course of this litigation, Plaintiffs stated that Defendants were complying with the Court's Desegregation Order and that the plan was effective. Moreover, Defendants improperly raise arguments already considered by the Court concerning Plaintiffs' failure to object to Defendants' actions. Significantly, the Court, not Plaintiffs, must determine whether unitary status has been attained. Any posturing that has taken place between the parties is inconsequential to this Court's determination. Perhaps this concept has hindered Defendants' accomplishments over the years. Defendants' obligations remain until "the affirmative duty to desegregate has been accomplished and racial discrimination through official action is eliminated from the system." See Pasadena City Bd. of Educ. v. Spangler, 427 U.S. 424, 436, 96 S.Ct. 2697, 49 L.Ed.2d 599 (1976). A judicial determination as to whether Defendants have accomplished their affirmative duty was never sought until this Court prodded Defendants to see where this case was going. Consequently, the fact that Plaintiffs once argued in a brief that the schools were desegregated, in order to prevent action sought by Defendants, should not be repeatedly emphasized to the Court.

Equally as unproductive, "Defendants ask the Court to consider that `inaction' by a party who believes it to be consistent with the Court's directive may be error, but is not apathy. They ask as well that the Court remember that the Defendants did not rely solely on the Court's ex parte oral interpretations of its Order, but on a more public form of information as well." Defendants continue that the Court should acknowledge that the Court did not require any alteration of Defendants' action since 1974.

If Defendants' feelings have been hurt by the Court's Order denying unitary status; perhaps they expect an apology from the Court. Defendants should refrain from filing any additional motions in an attempt to explain why the Court should not unfairly characterize their inaction. There is a very complex and significant task to be accomplished in Hillsborough County. If attaining unitary status is going to be impaired because Defendants feel that they have been personally offended by constructive, and blatantly honest, criticisms, there are larger problems afoot in Hillsborough County.

On page 19 of their Memorandum, Defendants argue, "[i]f the Court intends a holding in its Order that the Defendants' chances of attaining a finding of unitary status were doomed by acts not taken in 1976, by Board members and administrators who are no longer associated with the School board, then they ask for reconsideration of that conclusion." Apparently, this point needs to be made crystal clear: this case concerns the operations of a public school system, not individuals personally. The school system must be operated on a nondiscriminatory basis and all vestiges of the prior constitutional violations must be eliminated to the maximum extent practicable. This is true regardless of the particular individuals acting for the School Board at any given time. To even suggest that acts not taken by the particular individuals currently sitting on the School Board should not be considered is absolutely ridiculous. The school system does not magically become desegregated simply because the ball has changed hands. Eliminating the vestiges of past discrimination to the maximum extent practicable is not limited to the tenure of individual Board Members. The Court will not address similar arguments raised in Defendants' Memorandum. This is not productive.

Despite Defendants' use of the instant Motion to defend their actions which have already been ruled upon, Defendants have raised genuine issues regarding their obligations. Moreover, Defendants discuss the fact that the 1971 Desegregation Order did not provide much detail and they explain that the School Board needs additional guidance with regards to their obligations.

I. The Nature of the Court's Conclusions Relating to Student Assignment.

In the October 26, 1998, Order, the Court stated that while demographics have played a significant role in Hillsborough County, the Court is not convinced that a shift in demographics and residential patterns explains the racial imbalance in the Hillsborough County school system. The Court also emphasized that the increase in the black population was not nearly as drastic as the increases experienced in cases cited by Defendants. Because the school system has not yet achieved unitary status, Plaintiffs are entitled to a presumption that the current disparities are the result of prior segregation. Defendant has the burden to prove otherwise.

In their Memorandum, Defendants ask the Court to consider

whether its inability to determine the extent of the role played by demographics in producing numbers which are central to its concerns, and, by extension, its inability to conclude with certainty whether the schools of Hillsborough County are in fact unitary, are the product of Defendants' counsel's unartfulness in presenting their evidence, as opposed to the reality which that evidence sought, but failed, to portray. Specifically, the Defendants ask the Court to consider whether or not additional or different data are needed, and/or whether further hearings would be helpful.

Undoubtedly, additional data is required. However, this is not simply a "numbers game" and the Court went to great lengths to explain that Defendants have not demonstrated a good faith commitment to desegregating the school system. In order to achieve constitutional compliance, a school district is obligated to comply, in good faith, with the court's desegregation decree and "take whatever [affirmative] steps might be necessary to convert to a unitary system in which racial discrimination would be eliminated root and branch." Green v. School Bd. of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430, 437-39, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 20 L.Ed.2d 716 (1968).

Defendants need to provide the Court with additional data concerning how successful their desegregation efforts have been. Significantly, Defendants should provide the Court with statistics regarding the racial compositions of the schools in the county from 1995 to the present. Defendants should explain whether racial compositions have improved or worsened. If they have worsened, Defendants should explain why, and what is going to be done. Defendants should provide the Court with additional data concerning their majority to minority transfer program and explain whether this has been successful. Defendants should look at other school districts similar in size to Hillsborough County and determine whether the transfer program in Hillsborough County can...