Wright v. COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD OF GREENSVILLE CTY., VA., Civ. A. No. 4263.
| Decision Date | 02 March 1970 |
| Docket Number | Civ. A. No. 4263. |
| Citation | 309 F. Supp. 671 |
| Parties | Pecola Annette WRIGHT et al. v. COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD OF GREENSVILLE COUNTY, VIRGINIA et al. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Virginia |
S. W. Tucker, Henry L. Marsh, III, Richmond, Va., Jack Greenberg, James M. Nabrit, III, New York City, for plaintiffs.
Frederick T. Gray, Richmond, Va., H. Benjamin Vincent, Emporia, Va., for defendants.
The plaintiffs in this action filed a supplemental complaint on August 1, 1969, alleging that the added defendants, the City Council and the School Board of the City of Emporia, had taken steps to establish a city school system independent of the Greensville County system, then under a desegregation order in this suit. Emporia, a city of the second class since 1967, is surrounded by Greensville County. Through the school year 1968-69 public school pupils resident in Emporia had attended schools operated by Greensville County; the city had been reimbursing the county for this service under a contract of April 10, 1968.
On August 8, 1969, the added defendants were temporarily enjoined by this Court from any steps which would impede the implementation of the outstanding desegregation order. Subsequently the Emporia officials answered, denying the allegation that the plan for separation would frustrate the efforts of the Greensville County School Board to implement the plan embraced by the Court's order. The matter was then continued until December 18, 1969, for a hearing on whether the injunction should be made permanent.
The original action seeking relief from alleged racial discrimination in the operation of the Greensville County School System, was filed in March of 1965. Emporia was not a city under Virginia law until July 31, 1967; until that time the county was alone responsible for the public education of those within its borders. Under the contract of April 10, 1968, the county continued this service in exchange for the payment of 34.26% of the cost of the system.
On June 21, 1968, the plaintiffs moved for additional relief. Up to that point the county-administered system had operated under a free-choice plan which, plaintiffs asserted, had not achieved constitutional compliance under Green v. County School Board of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430, 88 S.Ct. 1689, 20 L.Ed. 2d 716 (1968). The 1967-68 enrollment figures show the racial distribution then prevailing:
School Students Faculty
W N W N
Greensville County High 719 50 39½ 1
Emporia Elementary 857 46 34½ 2
Wyatt High 0 809 4½ 32½
Moton Elementary 0 552 0 22½
Zion Elementary 0 255 1 12½
Belfield Elementary 0 419 3 14
Greensville County Training 0 439 0 16
The two schools then attended by all the white students were and still are in the city of Emporia, as is the training school; others are in the county.
The county proposed the extension of the free choice plan for another year while a zoning or pairing plan was developed. The plaintiffs took exception. The Court ordered the county to file a pupil desegregation plan bringing the system into compliance with Green by January 20, 1969. The county again proposed that the free choice plan be retained with certain changes, principally involving transfers out of a pupil's regular school for special classes and faculty reassignment. As an alternative, if the first proposal were rejected, the county suggested a plan under which the high school population would be divided between the two facilities on the basis of curriculum pursued, academic or vocational. Faculties would be reassigned to achieve at least a 75%-25% ratio in each school. Elementary school desegregation would be achieved by the transfer of individual Negroes to white schools "on the basis of standardized testing of all students."
The plaintiffs suggested the assignment of all students on the basis of grades attained to specific schools; pairing, in other words, the entire system. Elementary teachers were to follow their classes as reassigned, and high school teachers were to be shifted so that the racial balance in the Wyatt School and Greensville County High would be approximately the same.
A hearing was held on June 17, 1969, and this Court stated its findings and indicated its intention to order that the plaintiffs' plan be adopted.
By order of June 25, 1969, this Court rejected the defendants' proposals and ordered the plaintiffs' plan put into effect. Subsequently the plan was modified slightly on defendants' motion; the pupil assignments ordered on July 30, 1969, were as follows:
School Grades
Greensville County High 10, 11, 12
Junior High (Wyatt) 8, 9
Zion Elementary 7
Belfield Elementary 5, 6
Moton Elementary 4, 5
Emporia Elementary 1, 2, 3
Greensville County Training Special Education
On July 9, 1969, the city council met especially to formulate plans for a city school system. On July 10th the mayor sought the cooperation of county officials in selling or leasing school facilities located in Emporia. On July 14th the council instructed the city school board to take steps to create a city school division. On July 23rd the council requested the state board of education to authorize the establishment of such a division, which request has been tabled by the State Board "in light of matters pending in the federal court," defendants' Ex. E-1. The Emporia school board in the meantime advised the county officials that the contract would no longer be honored and that city pupils would not attend the county system in the forthcoming school year. A notice of July 31, 1969, published by the city school board, required that school age children resident in Emporia be registered and invited applications from nonresidents on a tuition basis. The injunction of August 8, 1969, however, resulted in a continuation of city pupils attending the county system for the present school year.
At a hearing on December 18, 1969, the city took the position that the contract was void under state law (see defendants' Ex. E-J); this question is the subject of pending litigation brought by the city on October 1, 1969, in the state courts. The evidence shows that the city on September 30, 1969, notified the county of its view that the contract is invalid and its intention to terminate the contract under its terms, in any case, effective in July, 1971. Payments, however, were continued through the date of the December hearing. Emporia officials also have assured the Court that they have no intention of entertaining applications from nonresidents until so permitted by this Court.
At the hearing the county, unfortunately, took no position.
A resolution of the city school board of December 10, 1969, defendants' Ex. E-F, outlines the city's plan. Elementary levels through grade six would be conducted in the Emporia Elementary School building; grades seven through twelve would be housed in the Greensville County High School. Defendants' Ex. E-G includes budgetary projections for the new system. The city projects enrollment figures for the system at about ten percent above the number of city residents now in the public system "on the expectation that some pupils now attending other schools would return to a city-operated school system," defendants' Ex. E-G, at 1.
The city clearly contemplates a superior quality educational program. It is anticipated that the cost will be such as to require higher tax payments by city residents. A kindergarten program, ungraded primary levels, health services, adult education, and a low pupil-teacher ratio are included in the plan, defendants' Ex. E-G, at 7, 8.
The county has filed, at the Court's request, a statistical breakdown of the students and faculty in the county-administered schools, now in operation under this Court's order of July 30, 1969. The table below shows the current racial makeup of the seven schools:
School Students Faculty
W N W N
Emporia Elementary 283 655 17 18
Grades 1-3 30.1% 69.9%
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Hicksford (Moton) 238 405 11 13
Grades 4-5 37% 63%
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Belfield 107 243 7 11
Grade 6 30.6% 69.4%
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Zion 127 238 7 7
Grade 7 34.8% 65.2%
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Junior High 215 443 19 21
Grades 8-9 32.6% 67.4%
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Senior High 346 424 31 14
Grades 10-12 44.9% 55.1%
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Training School 10 63 1 8
13.7% 86.3%
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By comparison, the county reported the following racial characteristics for the 1968-69 school year:
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