Memo from Chachkin to Lado and Ellis Re: Expert in Sheff

    MEMORANDUM   

TO? Jiarianne Lado 
Ron Ellis 

FROM: Norman chachkin VV) 

RE: Expert in Sheff 

I have been giving a fair amount of thought to the problem of 
a substitute remedial expert in Sheff. One of the problems, I 
think, is the need for someone to be able to commit a pretty 
substantial amount of time to the project, to be invested not just 
in number-crunching and plan-drawing, but also in meetings with 
community members and plaintiffs, not to mention discussions with 
the large group of counsel in the case. Moreover, you would want 
to find someone who can handle the full range of subject matter 
that needs to be addressed in the case: not just student 
assignment to schools, but within-school practices, treatment of 
city kids who end up in the suburbs, etc. 

Those preconditions tend to eliminate a couple of people who 
we or the Justice Department have used and continue to use in 
multiple situations on a short-term basis. However, I do think 
that Bill Gordon may work out well. He is currently at Wright 
State University in Dayton, Ohio and has been an expert in a number 
of cases, including the Pittsburgh-area inter-district case, Hoots 
  

    

v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He most recently testified in 

Louisiana in the St. John the Baptist Parish case, so Dennis has 

had some exposure tc him, He has been involved in a large 
metropolitan case (Charleston) and has written in the field. His 
work in Hoots involved a variety of second-generation problems as 
well as student assignment, and continues today. 

The numbers I have for him are (home) 513-879-0730 and 
(office) 513-873-3278. I am told that you'd have a better chance 
of making contact with him at home than at his office. By the way, 
he also has a law degree in addition to his education doctorate.