Vaughns v. Board of Education of Prince George's County, 72-2129

• Decision Date: 12 October 1972
• Docket Number: 72-2130 and 72-2131.,No. 72-2129,72-2129
• Parties: Sylvester J. VAUGHNS, Jr., by his father and next friend, Sylvester J. Vaughns, et al., Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY et al., Appellees. Sylvester J. VAUGHNS, Jr., by his father and next friend, Sylvester J. Vaughns et al., Appellees, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY et al., Appellants. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY et al., Appellees, v. Jesse Alexander ELLER et al., Appellant.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Fourth Circuit

468 F.2d 894 (1972)

Sylvester J. VAUGHNS, Jr., by his father and next friend, Sylvester J. Vaughns, et al., Appellants, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY et al., Appellees.

Sylvester J. VAUGHNS, Jr., by his father and next friend, Sylvester J. Vaughns et al., Appellees, v. BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY et al., Appellants.

BOARD OF EDUCATION OF PRINCE GEORGE'S COUNTY et al., Appellees, v. Jesse Alexander ELLER et al., Appellant.

Nos. 72-2129, 72-2130 and 72-2131.

United States Court of Appeals, Fourth Circuit.

Argued October 2, 1972.

Decided October 12, 1972.

Certiorari Denied January 22, 1973.

Richard V. Falcon and Kenneth L. Johnson, Baltimore, Md. (Gerald A. Smith and Howard, Brown & Williams, Baltimore, Md., on brief), for appellants in No. 72-2129 and for appellees in No. 72-2130.

Paul M. Nassbaum, Mt. Ranier, Md., counsel for the Board of Education of Prince George's County, Maryland (Stanley H. Goldstein, College Park, Md., on brief), for appellees in Nos. 72-2129 and 72-2131, and for appellants in No. 72-2130.

Emmett H. Nanna, Jr., Hyattsville, Md. (Richard M. James, Hyattsville, Md., George P. Lewnes and Cyril S. Wofsy, Washington, D. C., on brief), for appellants in No. 72-2131.

Before HAYNSWORTH, Chief Judge, and WINTER, CRAVEN, BUTZNER, RUSSELL and FIELD, Circuit Judges, sitting en banc.

Certiorari Denied January 22, 1973. See 93 S.Ct. 968.

PER CURIAM:

In this school case, the District Judge entered an order in July 1972 declaring the composition of the schools and the assignment of pupils in Prince George's Court, Maryland not to be in compliance with the constitutional requirements. There was a subsequent order in August, directing the preparation of final desegregation plans by November 1972 and their submission to the Court early in December. That order scheduled a hearing on the plans in December and provided that the plans, with respect to the primary schools and the junior high schools, would be made effective on January 29, 1973, the date of the semester break. With respect to the senior high schools, however, the order provided that the plans would not be placed into effect until September 1973.

The right to take an appeal from each of the orders under the present circumstances is contested, and the resolution of those procedural questions involve difficult considerations. We think it unnecessary to attempt to resolve them, for we perceive among the substantive questions tendered, only one of substantiality, and that one is, and will be, within the bosom of the District Court.

The general rule requires that plans for the desegregation of school systems be made effective as soon as they practically may be without serious disruption to the educational process.^* It is contended here that, in light of the general rule the District Court should not have included in...