United States v. Tunica County School District, DC 6718

• Decision Date: 16 July 1970
• Docket Number: No. DC 6718,DC 7013.,DC 6718
• Citation: 323 F. Supp. 1019
• Parties: UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. TUNICA COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants. J. W. DRIVER et al., Plaintiffs, v. TUNICA COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants.
• Court: U.S. District Court — Northern District of Mississippi

323 F. Supp. 1019

UNITED STATES of America, Plaintiff, v. TUNICA COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants.

J. W. DRIVER et al., Plaintiffs, v. TUNICA COUNTY SCHOOL DISTRICT et al., Defendants.

Nos. DC 6718, DC 7013.

United States District Court, N. D. Mississippi, Delta Division.

July 16, 1970.

H. M. Ray, U. S. Atty., Oxford, Ben Krage, Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Robert J. Kelly, Batesville, for plaintiffs.

John W. Dulaney, Jr., Tunica, for defendants.

MEMORANDUM OPINION

KEADY, Chief Judge.

By supplemental complaint in this school desegregation case, the United States seeks injunctive and other relief against the Board of Trustees and Superintendent of the Tunica County School District, the State of Mississippi and State Board of Education for paying out of public school funds second-semester salaries of 19 white teachers who, at the close of the first semester of the current school year, refused to accept re-assignments as directed by the school board after entry of this court's latest desegregation order and submitted their resignations as teachers in the public school system. Consolidated for hearing is a companion case instituted by black patrons of the school district, who, in addition to the foregoing issue, charge the school board with unlawfully allowing school books and other school property to be used in a private school by white students withdrawing from public school at the end of the first semester.

Certain background facts are necessary to an understanding of the legal questions presented. On May 14, 1969, following an evidentiary hearing conducted several months earlier, the United States District Court entered an order disapproving freedom of choice for the Tunica County schools and directing the school board to submit a workable plan not later than June 18, 1969, effective for the school year beginning in September. That order also directed the assignment at each of the district schools for the forthcoming year of "not less than 1 out of every 6 classroom teachers being of a different race."¹ Prior to entry of this order, the school board at its March 1969 meeting had actually approved the employment of designated teachers for each of its schools for 1969-70, but stating in its minutes that the board "was of the opinion that no contract of employment could be entered into with them the teachers until a decision was handed down by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi in the matter now pending in said court relaing to faculty desegregation and other matters." Subject to that express condition, the teachers were approved. The board withheld making formal contracts until its May 1969 meeting, when it took note of the fact that although the district court had not yet acted on its case, the board should not wait longer to enter, into teacher contracts and voted to do so by attaching to each teacher's contract a special provision as follows:

"Compliance with future faculty desegregation orders of the U. S. District Court may force the Board of Education to reassign Teacher to a school other than the school shown hereon, and the Board of Education hereby reserves this right. In the event of reassignment, Teacher reserves the right to terminate this Contract of Employment without prejudice. If permitted, the Board will assign Teacher to the school of the Teacher's choice."

During May and June 1969, employment contracts containing the above clause were made with all teachers presently involved, except one,² which specified their employment to be for one year at a designated school with a fixed annual salary payable in 12 monthly installments beginning on the last day of the month in which school opened. The 19 white teachers, by the contract terms, were designated to teach at the Tunica Elementary and High School, which had been predominantly attended by white students.

Further evidentiary hearings on an acceptable student desegregation plan in lieu of freedom of choice were held by the district court on July 3 and July 17. On July 22 the court entered its order approving a plan by which students were assigned to schools on the basis of achievement-test scores, with students in 4 grades per year (beginning with the lower grades) to be tested and the highest scoring students assigned to formerly white schools and all others to formerly Negro schools. At the time there were 555 white and 3,155 Negro students enrolled in the system. A separate paragraph of this order dealing with faculty desegregation reaffirmed that the teacher racial ratio would be 1 to 6 at each school for 1969-70, and for 1970-71 and thereafter full faculty and staff desegregation, to such an extent that the faculty at each school be not identifiable to the race of the majority of the students at any such school.

At the conclusion of the July 17 hearing, this court had indicated from the bench that it would approve use of the achievement testing plan, later incorporated in its order as above set forth. On July 19, the board met with most of the Tunica Elementary and High School teachers then under contract, explained the terms of the desegregation order respecting assignment of students and informed them that on the basis of the 1 to 6 teacher ratio, each teacher would be able to teach at Tunica School specified by written contract as the board had hired other white teachers for Dundee and Rosa Fort to satisfy the court order. The Tunica teachers found this information to be generally satisfactory, and they entered upon their employment with that understanding.

Both the school board and the United States appealed from the district court's judgment of July 22, 1969; and that judgment was summarily reversed on January 6, 1970. United States of America v. Tunica County School District, 5 Cir., 421 F.2d 1236. The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals not only condemned the achievement test method of assignment but remanded the case for further proceedings in conformity with Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District, 5 Cir. 1969, 419 F.2d 1211, 1212, especially Part I (faculty and staff desegregation), with the board mandated "to submit a desegregation plan to provide a unitary school system * * * not later than January 15, 1970," and to take steps "for complete student desegregation by February 1, 1970," should the Supreme Court in Carter v. West Feliciana School Board, 1970, 396 U.S. 290, 90 S.Ct. 908, 24 L. Ed.2d 477, so require, as it subsequently did.

Pursuant to the Court of Appeals' mandate, this court on January 7 directed submission of a new plan as required which "with respect to desegregation of faculty and staff * * * shall comply with the terms, provisions and conditions (including time specified) in Singleton and consolidated cases (Parts I and III)". On January 15, the school board filed a new desegregation plan based upon geographic zoning, and this was accepted, with one change, by the district court, on January 23. The court, by its order, also directed the board, in terms expressly required by Singleton, to assign principals, teachers and staff effective February 2, "so that the ratio of Negro to white teachers in each school and the ratio of other staff in each are substantially the same as each such ratio is to the teachers and other staff respectively in the entire system." Also the board was required, to the extent necessary, to "direct members of its staff as a condition of continued employment to accept new assignments."

On January 24, which was the day following the entry of the last court order, the school board met and directed teacher reassignments to its three operating schools, Rosa Fort, Dundee and Tunica, to comply with the court's order. Upon being informed of the reassignments, 18 white teachers reassigned to Rosa Fort or Dundee schools refused to accept their reassignments and during the last week in January submitted their resignations, effective January 30, which was the end of the first semester. Shortly thereafter the 19th white teacher, who had been reassigned to Tunica High School, submitted his resignation after that school also became all-black under the desegregation order.

On January 30, the board met to consider the request of some teachers³ refusing reassignment that their contracts "should be honored since they were employed to teach in the Tunica School for the full year, 1969-70, and, not only had they been reassigned contrary to their contract with the board, but the Tunica School (formerly white) under the court order had been changed so that many could not teach in the school even if they had not been reassigned;" and that they should be paid the balance of their salaries for the full school year. It was the consensus of the board that the request was well taken and the board had "a moral as well as a legal obligation" to pay them (and any other teachers refusing reassignment) the balance of the school year's salary.⁴

On February 2, 1970, the board paid, in lump sum payments, 18 white teachers who had resigned for refusal to accept assignments: Oliver T. Aust, Reva L. Bland, Maynard R. Brigance, Jr., Agnes B. Coalter, Billy E. Daniels, Robert A. Harris, Jr., Annie E. Herring, James H. Isbell, Barbara T. Jepsen, Virginia L. Kittle, Rita D. Land, Edith C. Moore, Ramsay C. Owens, Mattie Shepherd, Alva E. Terry, Tommy P. Thornton, Janie S. Turner and Ann Wright. On February 10, 1970, Billy T. Walker, the white teacher reassigned to Tunica High School who resigned, was, upon board approval, paid his contract salary for the remainder of the year. In all, the total salaries paid to these teachers for the period after their resignation was $51,877.46. That amount included $29,785.82 from State Minimum Program Fund and $22,091.64 from school district funds.

On February 2, 1970, the first day of the second semester, no white child enrolled at any of the district schools. Instead, the Tunica Church School opened with an...