Wright v. Board of Public Instruction of Alachua Co., Fla., 29999 Summary Calendar.
| Decision Date | 03 September 1970 |
| Docket Number | No. 29999 Summary Calendar.,29999 Summary Calendar. |
| Citation | 431 F.2d 1200 |
| Parties | Lavon WRIGHT et al., Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. The BOARD OF PUBLIC INSTRUCTION OF ALACHUA COUNTY, FLORIDA, et al., Defendants-Appellees. |
| Court | U.S. Court of Appeals — Fifth Circuit |
Earl M. Johnson, Jacksonville, Fla., Jack Greenberg, Norman J. Chachkin, Drew S. Days, III, New York City, for plaintiffs-appellants.
Harry C. Duncan, Gainesville, Fla., for defendants-appellees.
Before BELL, AINSWORTH, and GODBOLD, Circuit Judges.
Rehearing Denied and Rehearing En Banc Denied September 3, 1970.
This school case was last before the court in Singleton v. Jackson Municipal Separate School District, 5 Cir., 1969, 419 F.2d 1211 (), modified sub nom. Carter v. West Feliciana Parish School Board, 1969, 396 U.S. 226, 90 S.Ct. 467, 24 L.Ed.2d 382. The questions presented now are in the form of remnants from the effort to convert to a unitary system.1
This system consists of 14,722 white and 7,138 Negro students. When suit was commenced in 1964, there were eleven all Negro schools in the system. Four of these, Duval, Williams, A. Quinn Jones Elementary and Lincoln High Schools are situated within the City of Gainesville. This appeal concerns these four schools. All other matters necessary to constitute the system as unitary have been effected. The directions contained in Singleton v. Jackson, supra, in these areas except as to the four schools in question have been implemented. For a statement of the criteria involved in converting from dual to unitary status, see Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 1968, 391 U.S. 430, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 20 L.Ed.2d 716; Ellis v. The Board of Public Instruction of Orange County, Florida, 5 Cir., 1970, 423 F.2d 203.
Duval and Williams Elementary schools under the assignment plan in effect as of February 24, 1970 remained virtually all Negro from a student assignment standpoint. Duval had 539 Negro and 18 white students; Williams had 643 Negro and 56 whites. Appellants contend that it is feasible to pair these schools and that this would result in their substantial desegregation. They point to the fact that pairing was recommended to the district court by the Florida School Desegregaion Consulting Center which organization prepared, at the request of the district court, recommendations for desegregating the schools of the Alachua County system. These recommendations were that Duval be paired with nearby Metcalf (1.4 miles), and that Williams be paired with Prairie View and Lake Forest Elementaries. These latter schools are somewhat further apart. The following would result from the suggested arrangement:
Enrollment
School Grades Served White Negro
Metcalf K-3 489 275
Duval 4-6 386 250
Lake Forest K-4 340 283
Prairie View K-4 340 284
Williams 5-6 276 264
The record indicates that Duval and Metcalf, as stated, are in close proximity. It is both feasible and reasonable to pair them. Cf. Mannings v. Board of Public Instruction of Hillsborough County, 5 Cir., 1970, 427 F.2d 874, 1970. This will eliminate Duval as an all Negro school.
The problem remains as to Williams. The record indicates that there are three white majority elementary schools contiguous to Williams. These are Kirby-Smith with a student assignment of 259 white and 175 Negro; Prairie View — 471 white and 155 Negro; Lake Forest — 502 white and 106 Negro. Williams can be, and it must be desegregated by either rezoning as amongst it and these other three schools, or by pairing Williams with one or more of these three schools. The district court is directed to give the option in the first instance to the school board as to the method to be selected but the school board must seek the advice of the bi-racial committee which is to be created. The end result will be that all schools in the system will be desegregated.
The district court is directed to see that a bi-racial committee of the type described in Ellis v. Orange County, supra, is established. The court is further directed to require that the biracial committee serve in an advisory capacity to the school board in the area of the promulgation and maintenance of zone lines, in pairing problems, and in school site location...
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