Valley v. Rapides Parish School Board, 30099.

• Decision Date: 25 August 1970
• Docket Number: No. 30099.,30099.
• Citation: 434 F.2d 144
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit
• Parties: Virgie Lee VALLEY et al., Appellants, v. RAPIDES PARISH SCHOOL BOARD et al., Appellees.

434 F.2d 144 (1970)

Virgie Lee VALLEY et al., Appellants, v. RAPIDES PARISH SCHOOL BOARD et al., Appellees.

No. 30099.

United States Court of Appeals, Fifth Circuit.

August 25, 1970.

Norman J. Chachkin, Margrett Ford, Jack Greenberg, New York City, Louis Berry, Alexandria, La., Jerris Leonard, Asst. Atty. Gen., Civil Rights Div., U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., Donald E. Walter, U. S. Atty., Western District of La., Shreveport, La., A. P. Tureaud, New Orleans, La., David L. Norman, Deputy Asst. Atty. Gen., Edward S. Christenbury, Atty., U. S. Dept. of Justice, Washington, D. C., for appellants.

Edwin O. Ware, Dist. Atty., 9th Judicial District, Rapides Parish, Gus Voltz, Jr., Asst. Dist. Atty., Courthouse, Alexandria, La., Jack P. F. Gremillion, Atty. Gen. of La., Capitol Building, Baton Rouge, La., for appellees.

Before JOHN R. BROWN, Chief Judge, MORGAN and INGRAHAM, Circuit Judges.

LEWIS R. MORGAN, Circuit Judge:

The issue in this school desegregation case is whether Wards 1 and 8 of the Rapides Parish Louisiana school system presently operate on a unitary basis within the requirements set forth in Alexander v. Holmes County Board of Education, 1969, 396 U.S. 19, 90 S.Ct. 29, 24 L.Ed.2d 19, and Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 1968, 391 U.S. 430, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 20 L.Ed.2d 716. Since the school system is challenged only as to one of the six elements¹ required by Green, supra, for the establishment of a unitary system, we will follow the approach of Andrews v. City of Monroe, 5 Cir., 1970, 425 F.2d 1017, and deal exclusively with the question of pupil assignment.

Those sections of the district court's order (Appendix "A") which do not concern either student assignment in Wards 1 and 8 or the majority-to-minority transfer policy are hereby affirmed.

STUDENT ASSIGNMENT

On April 13, 1970, the district court conducted a hearing and considered three separate plans for desegregating the schools within Wards 1 and 8: the plan of the Rapides Parish School Board; a plan filed by the Department of Health, Education and Welfare (HEW); and an additional plan submitted by the United States Department of Justice at the request of the district court which actually modified the original HEW arrangement. By final order entered on June 8, 1970, the court rejected all three plans by substituting a plan of its own.

The City of Alexandria, comprising most of Wards 1 and 8, maintains a total of 24 schools (17 elementary, 4 junior high, and 3 senior high schools) which serve some 15,639 pupils. Transportation to these schools is accomplished by 47 buses on which 43% of the student population ride daily. Negroes account for 47% of the total student body.

Because of the residential dichotomy between Alexandria's black and white citizens, the so-called "neighborhood school plan" adopted by the district court, although admittedly impartial as to race, still leaves 60% of the black students in schools where their race is an approximate 90% or greater majority. Of the 24 schools, seven remain predominantly Negro.

The end result is that neighborhood zoning in Alexandria, Louisiana, leaves the majority of the city's Negro students in a virtually segregated school system. The fact that the plan complies with the requirements for a neighborhood system as enunciated by this court in Ellis v. Board of Public Instruction of Orange County, Florida, 5 Cir., 1970, 423 F.2d 203, does not make the system constitutionally palatable unless the plan actually works to achieve integration. Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, supra; United States v. Indianola Municipal Separate School District, 5 Cir., 1969, 410 F.2d 626. As this court stated previously in Andrews v. City of Monroe, 5 Cir., 1970, 425 F.2d 1017:

However we do not reject the School Board\'s plan solely on the ground that it does not fit the Orange County definition of a neighborhood system. Even if, as presently constituted the plan were a true neighborhood plan we would reject it because if fails to establish a unitary system. Orange County does not say that a "neighborhood" system of student assignment per se is a unitary system. (Emphasis added.) 425 F.2d 1019.

Thus, having an affirmative duty to abolish segregation, the school board must bring about a unitary system. Indianola Separate School District, supra. The type plan employed, be it neighborhood zoning or otherwise, is of little consequence in view of the constitutionally required result that public schools be conducted on a unitary basis. The district court's plan does not substantially abolish segregation in Wards 1 and 8, and for this reason it cannot be upheld on the ground that it is a true neighborhood plan within the meaning of Orange County.

By pairing or clustering the schools in Wards 1 and 8, the number of Negro children attending all black schools can be substantially reduced. However, following the approach of Pate v. Dade County School Board, 5 Cir., 1970, 434 F.2d 1151 the district court has the alternative of either enforcing the plan contained in this opinion or approving any other arrangement submitted by the school board, or other interested parties, provided, of course, that the alternate plan achieves substantially the same results as reached by this court's modifications. In the absence of such a plan by the school board or other interested parties, it is directed that the plan outlined below be effectuated.

Elementary Schools

Using the neighborhood zones approved by the district court, the boundary of Rugg Elementary (284 whites, 116 blacks) is contiguous with that of the zone containing both South Alexandria Primary (37 whites, 370 blacks) and South Alexandria Elementary (28 whites, 597 blacks). All three school buildings are within one mile² of each other so that no child within either zone is more than one and one-half miles distant from any of the buildings. It is therefore ordered that Rugg be grouped with South Alexandria Primary and Elementary creating a new school zone with a student population of 349 whites and 1,083 blacks.

The Reed Elementary zone (69 whites, 137 blacks) is bounded to the west by Rosenthal Elementary (375 whites, 139 blacks) and adjoined in the northeast by Peabody Elementary (3 whites, 533 blacks). The three school buildings are less than two miles apart and are located within two miles of the homes of most children in the three zones. Since these school buildings are in such close proximity to each other and also to the students they will serve they should be combined to form a new school zone which will have a racial composition of 447 whites and 809 blacks.

In the eastern quadrant of Alexandria three zones lie side by side: Lincoln Road Elementary (0 whites, 585 blacks) abuts Lafargue (172 whites, 391 blacks) which joins Martin Park (431 whites, 25 blacks). As in the zone previously created these three school buildings are also no more than two miles apart with the farthest child being slightly in excess of two miles from the most remote building. We thus direct that Lincoln Road Elementary, La Fargue, and Martin Park be grouped to form one school zone. The new zone would be attended by 502 whites and 1,001 blacks.

Junior High Schools

Of the four junior high schools only one (Jones Street) is predominantly Negro under the plan formulated by the district court. All the schools are located within close proximity to one another — the farthest distance between any two schools being two and one-half miles. By redrawing the zones as recommended in the HEW-Justice Department plan,³ all the junior high students would receive an integrated education. With the new plan the racial composition of each school would thus become: Alexandria Junior High School — 286 whites, 56 blacks; Jones Street Junior High School — 439 whites, 679 blacks; Lincoln Road Junior High School — 175 whites, 393 blacks; S. M. Brame Junior High School — 603 whites, 354 blacks.

It is therefore directed that the zones contained in the HEW-Justice Department plan for junior high schools be implemented by the district court.

Senior High Schools

There are three senior high schools in Wards 1 and 8 and, under the zones approved by the district court, the one predominantly black high school (Peabody) contains 62% of the Negro senior high students. Peabody is located within one and one-quarter miles of Bolton High School and less than four miles from the predominantly white Alexandria High School.

The combined HEW-Justice Department plan successfully integrates the three senior high schools, resulting in the following racial composition for each school: Bolton Senior High School — 702 whites, 475 blacks; Alexandria Senior High School — 1,199 whites, 620 blacks; Peabody Senior High School, 535 whites, 1,019 blacks.

It is thus ordered that the district court implement the zones for senior high schools as outlined in the plan submitted by the United States Department of Justice and HEW.

MAJORITY-TO-MINORITY TRANSFER POLICY

The order of the district court provides that a student attending a school in which his race is in the majority may choose to attend another school in which his race is in the minority "where space is available". In accord with our recent decisions,⁴ the transferees are to be given priority for space as provided for in Allen v. Board of Public Instruction of Broward County, Florida, 5 Cir., 1970, 432 F.2d 362 No. 30,032.

DEFICIENCIES TO BE REMEDIED

We conclude that the desegregation plan for Wards 1 and 8 of Rapides Parish as approved by the district court fails to meet one of the six requirements necessary for a valid unitary school system under the Green mandate. The district court must implement the school plan heretofore stated in this opinion for the 1970-1971 school year; or, alternatively, the district court may in its discretion adopt modifications submitted by the school board provided these modifications can be...