Johnson et al v. Jackson Parish et al

Filing 70

CONSENT ORDER: The Court finds that the Jackson Parish School Board has, in good faith, maintained nondiscriminatory operations in the areas of facilities, transportation, and extracurricular activities for the requisite period. The Court further a ccepts and agrees with the conclusion that the School Board has achieved unitary status and is entitled to dismissal of the injunction entered in this case as to the areas of facilities, transportation and extracurricular activities. Therefore, the Court hereby declares that the Jackson Parish School Board has achieved unitary status in the areas of facilities, transportation, and extracurricular activities; and that the injunction and any other orders previously entered in this cause as to sai d areas are hereby dissolved. This order does not affect the continued judicial supervision over the remaining Green factor areas of student assignment, faculty and staff hiring and assignment. Signed by Judge Robert G James on 7/29/13. (crt,DickersonSld, D)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
WESTERN DISTRICT OF LOUISIANA
MONROE DIVISION
ARMEY JOHNSON, et al
Plaintiffs

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AND
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CIVIL ACTION NO. 65-11,130
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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
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Plaintiff-INtervenor
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VERSUS
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JUDGE ROBERT G. JAMES
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JACKSON PARISH SCHOOL BOARD *
BOARD, et al
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Defendants
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CONSENT ORDER
DECLARING PARTIAL UNITARY STATUS AND DISMISSAL IN
FACILITIES, TRANSPORTATION, AND EXTRACURRICULAR ACTIVITIES
Plaintiff United States of America (the “United States”) and Defendant Jackson Parish
School Board (the “School Board”) have engaged in good faith efforts which have addressed and
resolved the Board’s school desegregation obligations in the areas of facilities, transportation,
and extracurricular activities. The United States and the School Board, both having reviewed the
terms of this Consent Order, find that its terms are consistent with the objectives of the
Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution and federal law. Based on the detailed
findings of fact set forth below and in consideration of the parties’ mutual consent, the Court
accordingly concludes that the School Board is entitled to a declaration of unitary status and
dismissal in the areas described herein.

I.

Findings of Fact
A.

Procedural History
1.

Pursuant to an order from the Fifth Circuit, this Court first entered a

Consent Decree in this case on March 31, 1967 to desegregate the Jackson Parish School District
(“District”).

The School Board has continued to operate pursuant to that Decree, with

subsequent modifications.
2.

In 2010, the United States, with the cooperation of the School Board,

began a comprehensive review of the School Board’s compliance with its obligations under the
operative court orders in this case. The review included analyses of the School Board’s annual
court reports and responses to the United States’ various requests for information as well as site
visits to the District’s schools in 2010, 2012, and 2013.
3.

After completing its review, the United States has initially determined, in

its view, that the School Board has satisfied the requirements for unitary status in the areas of
facilities, transportation, and extracurricular activities.
B.

Facilities
1.

The School Board operates five schools, two K-12 schools (Weston and

Quitman), one elementary school (Southside Elementary school), one middle school (JonesboroHodge middle school), and one high school (Jonesboro-Hodge High school).
2.

Each school serves a court-approved attendance zone within the Parish.

3.

The school facilities on each campus, while differing in age, style and

construction, provide reasonably similar accommodations for students and their educational
needs, regardless of the racial demographics of the students at each school.

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4.

After consideration of the facilities information provided by the School

Board and examination of the school facilities during the site visit, the United States raised no
challenges regarding the District’s facilities.
5.

The School Board has maintained and operated its school facilities in a

nondiscriminatory manner for more than the prior three (3) years.
C.

Transportation
1.

The School Board utilizes a transportation plan that provides all eligible

students enrolled in the District with transportation to and from school.
2.

The bus routes included in the transportation plan have been devised

based on geographical and other non-racial concerns.
3.

No bus route has been devised for the purpose of excluding any student on

the basis of race.
4.

The School Board has operated its transportation plan for students in a

nondiscriminatory manner for more than the prior three (3) years.
D.

Extracurricular Facilities
1.

The School Board provides students at all of its schools with a variety of

extracurricular opportunities, including clubs and athletics teams.
2.

The School Board has implemented policies and practices which

effectively provide all students an opportunity to participate in extracurricular activities on a
nondiscriminatory basis.
3.

All students are free to participate in or try out for any activity on a

completely voluntary basis and without any racial barriers or other requirements.

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4.

Ability-based try-outs (such as athletic teams, school plays, etc.), grade-

based selections (such as honor roll, Valedictorian, Salutatorian, Beta Club, National Honor
Society, etc.), and popularity elections (such as superlatives, homecoming honors, etc.) are
conducted in a racially non-discriminatory manner that employs both subjective and objective
criteria, as applicable, but does not include race as a factor.
5.

Sponsors and coaches for all extracurricular activities are assigned in a

nondiscriminatory manner, according to considerations unrelated to race.
6.

Upon review of the School Board’s extracurricular activities, the United

States noted no discriminatory policies or practices related to those activities.
7.

The School Board has maintained a nondiscriminatory program of

extracurricular activities for more than the prior three (3) years.
II.

Conclusions of Law
A.

Legal Standard for Unitary Status
1.

The ultimate goal in every desegregation case is to eliminate from each

aspect of school operations the vestiges of past segregation to the extent practicable and, thus,
achieve unitary status. Freeman v. Pitts, 503 U.S. 467, 489 (1992). Because federal court
supervision of a local school system is intended to be a temporary measure only, it is the court’s
duty to return control of the school system to the local authorities as soon as unitary status has
been achieved. Id. at 489.
2.

The courts have long acknowledged that “local autonomy of school

districts is a vital national tradition.” Id. at 490 (quoting Dayton Bd. of Educ. v. Brinkman, 433
U.S. 406, 410 (1977)). Restoring local control “at the earliest practicable date is essential to
restore [the local school board’s] true accountability in our governmental system.”
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Id.

Therefore, a federal court’s supervisory authority must not extend beyond the time that unitary
status has been achieved, i.e., the effects of past discrimination have been remedied.
3.

Factors to be examined to determine whether unitary status has been

achieved include: (1) whether the school district has fully and satisfactorily complied with the
court’s desegregation orders for a reasonable period of time; (2) whether the school district has
eliminated the vestiges of past de jure discrimination to the extent practicable; and (3) whether
the school district has demonstrated a good faith commitment to the whole of the court’s order
and to those provisions of the law and the Constitution which were the predicate for judicial
intervention in the first instance. See Missouri v. Jenkins, 515 U.S. 70, 87-89 (1995); Freeman,
503 U.S. at 491-492; Board of Educ. of Oklahoma City Pub. Sch. v. Dowell, 498 U.S. 237, 248250 (1991).
4.

Operating in a unitary fashion for a reasonable period without

circumstances adverse to desegregation is adequate to demonstrate the establishment of unitary
status. Dowell, 498 U.S. at 248; see Flax v. Potts, 915 F.2d 155, 158 (5th Cir. 1990); Monteilth
v. St. Landry Pub. Sch. Bd., 848 F.2d 625, 629 (5th Cir. 1988); Singleton v. Jackson Mun. Sep.
Sch. Dist., 541 F.Supp. 904, 906-907 (S.D. Miss. 1981) (establishing three years as the period of
compliance).
5.

While it is necessary for a school district to remove the vestiges of

discrimination from all of its operations before it has achieved unitary status, a school district
must demonstrate compliance with each of the factors set forth by the Supreme Court in Green v.
County School Board of New Kent County, 391 U.S. 430 (1968):

(1) facilities; (2)

transportation; (3) extracurricular activities; (4) faculty; (5) staff; and (6) student assignment.

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See also Freeman v. Pitts, 530 U.S. 467, 492-493. In this case, the parties have submitted an
agreement that the District has achieved unitary status in the areas of facilities, transportation,
and extracurricular activities.
6.

Once a school district has operated a fully desegregated, unitary school

system for three (3) years, the school desegregation case should be dismissed; however, the
Court has the discretion to address each of the “Green factors” individually and declare partial
unitary status as to each of them independent of the others, thereby relinquishing federal judicial
supervision incrementally. Freeman, 530 U.S. at 490-91; Singleton, 541 F.Supp. at 907-08.
7.

Once the Court determines that the record reveals no continued racial

discrimination and the School Board’s good faith to maintain such nondiscriminatory practices,
it may declare the subject area unitary. Freeman, 503 U.S. at 490-491.
8.

In this case, the United States has agreed that the School Board has, in

good faith, operated in a unitary manner for the requisite period in the areas of facilities,
transportation and facilities. Based on the following analyses of each factor, the Court agrees.
B.

Facilities
1.

Physical facilities should be deemed unitary when the School Board has

ensured, to the extent practicable, that its facilities are not amenable to racial identification
simply on the basis of their physical condition. Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ.,
402 U.S. 1, 18 (1971). The District must take corrective action to produce facilities of “like
quality,” with any differences in facilities, if such exist, being the result of non-race factors. Id.
at 18-19; Belk v.Charlotte-Mecklenburg Bd. of Educ., 269 F.3d 305, 328 (4th Cir. 2001).

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2.

Based on the facts set forth above, the School Board has demonstrated that

it has operated its school facilities in a nondiscriminatory manner in accordance with these
constitutional standards.
3.

Upon personal review of the facilities during a site visit, the United States

did not note any concerns with the operation of the facilities and has consented to unitary status
in this area of operation.
4.

The Court finds that the School Board is entitled to a declaration of

unitary status in the area of facilities.
C.

Transportation
1.

In considering the soundness of any transportation plan in light of its

general desegregation obligations, the court must weigh, inter alia, the non-exclusion of
minorities on account of race, elimination of one-race buses to the greatest degree possible, and
remedial alteration of routes to achieve nondiscriminatory busing. Swann 402 U.S. at 22-31.
2.

Based on the facts provided above, the School Board has demonstrated

that it has operated its transportation plan in a nondiscriminatory manner for over three years.
3.

In its review of District operations, the United States did not note any

objections to the transportation operation and has consented to a declaration of unitary status in
this area.
4.

The Court finds that the School Board is entitled to a declaration of

unitary status in the area of transportation.

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D.

Extracurricular Activities
1.

A school district’s extracurricular activities will be deemed unitary if they

“are available to all students within the school district regardless of race.” Singleton, 541
F.Supp. at 908. Courts scruitinize extracurricular activities under the standard of equal access.
Quarles v. Oxford Mun. Sep. Sch. Dist., 868 F.2d 750, 757 (5th Cir.1989) (referencing Bazemore
v. Friday, 478 U.S. 385 (1986)). The school system must promote minority participation and
ensure that no barriers to voluntary participation exist. See Little Rock Sch. Dist. v. Armstrong,
359 F.3d 957, 967-968 (8th Cir. 2004). Therefore, a determination that the School Board has
eliminated invidious racial distinctions in its extracurricular activities and that no racial barriers
exist to prevent any student from participating in such activities will support a finding of unitary
status in the area of extracurricular activities. Swann, 402 U.S. at 18; Singleton, 541 F.Supp. at
908.
2.

Based on the facts set out above, the School Board has demonstrated that

it has provided its students with extracurricular activities in a nondiscriminatory manner in
accordance with these constitutional standards for more than the requisite period.
3.

In its review of the District’s extracurricular activities, the United States

found no objections and has consented to a declaration of unitary status in this area.
4.

The Court finds that the School Board is entitled to a declaration of

unitary status in the area of extracurricular activities.
III.

Conclusion
The Court finds that the Jackson Parish School Board has, in good faith, maintained

nondiscriminatory operations in the areas of facilities, transportation, and extracurricular
activities for the requisite period. The Court further accepts and agrees with the conclusion that
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the School Board has achieved unitary status and is entitled to dismissal of the injunction entered
in this case as to the areas of facilities, transportation, and extracurricular activities.
Therefore, the Court hereby declares that the Jackson Parish School Board has achieved
unitary status in the areas of facilities, transportation, and extracurricular activities; and that the
injunction and any other orders previously entered in this cause as to said areas are hereby
dissolved.
This order does not affect the continued judicial supervision over the remaining Green
factor areas of student assignment, faculty and staff hiring and assignment.
SO ORDERED, ADJUDGED AND DECREED, this 29th day of July, 2013.

Agreed as to Form & Content:
For Plaintiff United States of America:
STEPHANIE A. FINLEY
United States Attorney
Western District of Louisiana

JOCELYN SAMUELS
Acting Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
ANURIMA BHARGAVA, Chief
FRANZ R. MARSHALL, Deputy Chief
Educational Opportunities Section

KATHERINE W. VINCENT (#18717)
Assistant United States Attorney
800 Lafayette Street, Suite 2200
Lafayette, LA 70501-6832
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]

s/ Torey B. Cummings
TOREY B. CUMMINGS
Trial Attorney
United States Department of Justice
Civil Rights Division
Educational Opportunities Section
Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, PHB 4300
Washington, D.C. 20530
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
[e-mail]
For Defendant Jackson Parish School Board:
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HAMMONDS, SILLS, ADKINS & GUICE
Physical Address:
1111 S. Foster Drive, Suite C
Baton Rouge, LA 70806
Mailing Address:
P.O. Box 65236
Baton Rouge, LA 70896
Telephone [phone]
Facsimile [phone]
s/ Robert L. Hammonds
ROBERT L. HAMMONDS
Louisiana Bar Roll No. 6484

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