Montgomery v. Starkville Mun. Separate School Dist., EC83-293-LS-D.

• Decision Date: 08 June 1987
• Docket Number: No. EC83-293-LS-D.,EC83-293-LS-D.
• Citation: 665 F. Supp. 487
• Parties: Horace Willie MONTGOMERY, et al., Plaintiffs, v. STARKVILLE MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi

665 F. Supp. 487

Horace Willie MONTGOMERY, et al., Plaintiffs, v. STARKVILLE MUNICIPAL SEPARATE SCHOOL DISTRICT, Defendant.

No. EC83-293-LS-D.

United States District Court, N.D. Mississippi, E.D.

June 8, 1987.

COPYRIGHT MATERIAL OMITTED

Wilbur Colom, Colom & Colom, Columbus, Miss., for plaintiffs.

Beverley Franklin, Columbus, Miss., Dolton W. McAlpin, Lydia M. Quarles, McAlpin & Quarles, Starkville, Miss., for defendant.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

SENTER, Chief Judge.

Plaintiff intervenors bring this action alleging that the defendants are presently maintaining a dual education system in the school district of Starkville, Mississippi, in contravention of the fourteenth amendment. As a result, plaintiff intervenors seek injunctive relief and an award of attorney's fees and costs.

A trial was held in this cause on September 29, 1986. Pursuant to Rule 52, Fed.R. Civ.P., the court issues the following findings of fact and conclusions of law.

Historical Background

Prior to 1954, the City of Starkville, Mississippi, like most southern communities, maintained a dual system of public education which served to segregate black and white students.¹ In 1954 and 1955, the United States Supreme Court abolished the "separate but equal" doctrine and mandated desegregation of public schools "with all deliberate speed." Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873 (1954) (Brown I); Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U.S. 294, 75 S.Ct. 753, 99 L.Ed. 1083 (1955) (Brown II). Local communities, construing "all deliberate speed" as being equivalent to "no speed at all," refused to desegregate their schools in any meaningful way.² By the early sixties, a number of lawsuits had been filed by black students and their parents in an attempt to enforce the Brown rulings in Mississippi. See, e.g., Evers v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District, 328 F.2d 408 (5th Cir.1964).

On October 29, 1969, the Supreme Court sent the doctrine of "all deliberate speed" to its final resting place and directed that complete desegregation be effectuated immediately. Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education, 396 U.S. 19, 90 S.Ct. 29, 24 L.Ed.2d 19 (1969). Although the Fifth Circuit initially construed this to mandate elimination of dual systems on a deferred schedule, Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District, 419 F.2d 1211 (5th Cir.1970),³ the Supreme Court held on January 14, 1970, that segregation had to be ended by February 1, 1970. Carter v. West Feliciana School Board, 396 U.S. 290, 90 S.Ct. 608, 24 L.Ed.2d 530 (1970).⁴

On June 30, 1969, the instant class action was filed on behalf of all black children attending school in the City of Starkville.⁵ Plaintiffs alleged in their complaint that school officials were guilty of maintaining a dual educational system segregated on the basis of race and requested the court to order elimination of the dual system. Having received the mandate of the Court in Alexander, supra, and Carter, supra,⁶ this court granted the plaintiffs permanent injunctive relief on February 4, 1970, and issued supplemental relief in an order dated November 29, 1971.

Prior to February 5, 1970, the Starkville school system consisted of one white high school, one white junior high school, two white elementary high schools, one black high school, one black middle school, and two black elementary schools. Student enrollment during the academic year 1969-1970 was 4,313, composed of approximately 53 percent white students and 47 percent black students. Teacher assignments also reflected racial segregation, as only one or two black teachers taught in white schools and twenty-three white teachers were assigned to teach in black schools. White principals were in charge of the white schools, and the black schools were administered by three black principals and one black "head teacher." See generally, Armstead v. Starkville Municipal Separate School District, 325 F.Supp. 560, 562 (N.D.Miss.1971), affirmed in part and reversed in part, 461 F.2d 276 (5th Cir.1972). As the court noted in 1971,

There has been a long history of racial discrimination by the defendants in the conduct of the Starkville Public School System. The School Board continued to operate a dual system of schools based on race long after Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483, 74 S.Ct. 686, 98 L.Ed. 873 (1955), and failed to commence conversion to a unitary system until forced to do so by the orders of this court on February 5, 1970.

Id. at 569.

On February 5, 1970, this court ordered Starkville school officials to "immediately begin to operate a unitary school system as required by the Supreme Court...." This court also "permanently enjoined school officials from discriminating on the basis of race or color in the operation of the Starkville Municipal Separate School District school system ...," required them to "take affirmative action to disestablish all school segregation and to eliminate the effects of the dual school system ...," and prohibited them "from maintaining any classrooms or sections in any school building on a racially segregated basis."

As a result of this order, faculty and students were reassigned and desegregated. Facilities and educational programs were opened up to all students regardless of color, and desegregation in the Starkville schools commenced.

Approximately a year later, plaintiffs requested the court to grant additional injunctive relief by requiring school officials to file semi-annual⁷ reports with the court concerning the placement and performance of students and teachers, broken down by race, and advising the court as to the degree of their continued compliance with the February 5, 1970, order. The court sustained plaintiffs' motion on November 29, 1971, and awarded the supplemental relief requested.

Relatively few complaints were made by plaintiffs between the entry of the 1971 order and the year 1978. Although this court found in a separate but related lawsuit that Starkville school officials had practiced racial discrimination against black teachers by disproportionately denying them reemployment, additional relief was granted and the unlawful practices were terminated. Armstead v. Starkville Municipal Separate School District, 325 F.Supp. 560 (N.D.Miss.1971), affirmed in part and reversed in part, 461 F.2d 226 (5th Cir.1972); Armstead v. Starkville Municipal Separate School District, 395 F.Supp. 304 (N.D.Miss.1975); Armstead v. Starkville Municipal Separate School District, 331 F.Supp. 567 (N.D.Miss.1971). A motion to dissolve the injunctions and, by implication, to have the Starkville school system declared unitary was filed on July 18, 1978, but was voluntarily withdrawn three years later by the defendants upon receipt of a report by the Office of Civil Rights withholding complete approval of the system.

Plaintiff intervenors submitted their present request for relief to the court on March 24, 1983, alleging that the defendants had failed to desegregate their school system completely. After honing the issues through pretrial and status conferences, plaintiff intervenors alleged that the defendants:

(1) failed to prepare and file semi-annual reports with the court as required by the terms of the November 29, 1971, order;

(2) allowed inter-district transfers of students, which results in reduced desegregation, in violation of the terms of the February 5, 1970, order;

(3) failed to compensate black staff members on the same basis as their white counterparts;

(4) have dismissed or demoted black staff members on the basis of race and have refused to rehire former employees or hire new ones also on the basis of race;

(5) have discriminated against black school children by maintaining segregated classes, which is the result of the school's use of improper standarized tests to group the students according to achievement and ability;

(6) have discriminated against black school children by developing and implementing separate programs of remedial and gifted instruction on the basis of race.

The claims concerning failure to file semi-annual reports and inter-district transferring of students have been settled and these issues are moot and need not be considered. A trial was held September 29, 1986, on the remaining viable issues.

I. Unequal Compensation.

Starkville teachers are compensated in accordance with a salary schedule approved by the District Board of Trustees. The level of pay is determined by two factors: the level of formal training held by the teacher and the number of years experience he or she has as a teacher. The schedule does not list race as an apparent factor.

Plaintiff intervenors put on no evidence to show that the salary schedule is incorrect. Plaintiffs also fail to allege or establish a failure to follow the terms of the schedule in any specific instance. Plaintiffs have wholly failed to prove that black and white staff members receive unequal compensation. The court finds for defendants on this claim.

II. Unequal Employment.

A. Discharge or Demotion of Teachers Based on Race.

A demotion includes any reassignment (1) under which the staff member receives less pay or has less responsibility than under the assignment he held previously, (2) which requires a lesser degree of skill than did the assignment he held previously, or (3) under which the staff member is asked to teach a subject or grade other than one for which he is certified or for which he has had substantial experience within a reasonably current period. Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District, 419 F.2d 1211, 1218 (5th Cir.1970), cert. denied, 396 U.S. 1032, 90 S.Ct. 611, 24 L.Ed.2d 530 (1970) (Singleton III). Depending upon the subject matter involved, five years may constitute a reasonable period. Id.

Teachers who are demoted or discharged form a pool from which the school officials should give priority in rehiring when openings appear in their previous job applications. Id. No...