Blakeney v. Fairfax County School Board Appellants' Appendix
Public Court Documents
March 3, 1964
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IN THE
United States Court of Appeals
F oe the F ourth Circuit
Mo. 9418
Glenda Blakeney, et al., Appellants,
v.
F airfax County School B oard, et al., Appellees.
A ppeal from the U nited S tales D istrict Court for the
E astern D istrict of V irginia, A lexandria Division
APPELLANTS' APPENDIX
J ames M. Nabrit, III
10 Columbus Circle
New York 19, N. Y.
S. W. T ucker
214 E. Clay Street
Richmond 19, Virginia
Otto L. T ucker
901 Princess Street
Of Counsel: Alexandria, Virginia
Allison W. Brown, J r. Attorneys for Appellants
Suite 705
1000 Connecticut Avenue, N. W.
Washington 6, D. C.
P ress or B yro n S. A d a m s , W a sh in g to n , D. C.
J A M E S M . NAlBRilT, 111
INDEX
Page
Relevant docket en tries................................................. 4
Findings of fact and conclusions of law, September 22,
1960 ........................................................................ 4
Decree of the District Court, November 1,1960 ........... 12
Motion for new trial, November 10,1960 ...................... 14
Motion to intervene, June 14, 1963 .............................. 15
Motion in intervention for further interlocutory and
permanent injunctive relief, June 14,1963 ............... 17
Motion for further interlocutory and permanent injunc
tive relief, June 21,1963 ................ ........................ 24
Motion to dismiss motion to intervene, July 3,1963 ---- 34
Motion to dismiss, July 12,1963 .................................... 36
Excerpts from transcript of proceedings, September
12, 1963 .................................................................. 37
Testimony of George H. Pope—-
D irect............................................................... 37
Cross ............................................................... 46
Re-direct ......................................................... 46
Testimony of Eugene L. Newman—
D irect............................................................... 48
Testimony of George IJ. Pope (recalled)—
D irect............................................................... 50
Argument by counsel............................................. 53
Memorandum opinion, March 3, 1964 ............................ 59
Order of the District Court, March 3, 1964 ................... 64
APPELLANTS' APPENDIX
Relevant Docket Entries
Civil Action No. 1967
9-22-60—Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law entered
and filed.
11-1-60—Report of Fairfax County School Board to Court
filed.
11-1-60—Decree entered ordering ‘ ‘ that this action be, and
it is hereby, stricken from the docket.”
11-1-60—J. S. Closing.
11-10-60—Motion for New Trial on part of the issues
received and filed.
11-10-60—Memorandum of Points and Authorities received
and filed.
2-16-61—Notice of Motion for further interlocutory & per
manent injunctive relief received and filed.
2-16-61—Motion for Further Interlocutory & Permanent
Injunctive Relief received and filed.
2-16-61—Affidavit in Support of above received and filed.
2-16-61—Plaintiffs’ Memorandum of Points and Author
ities in support of above received and filed.
2-20-61—Notice received and filed.
4-4-61—Plaintiffs’ Motion for Leave to Withdraw Motion
for Further Interlocutory and Permanent Injunctive
Relief received and filed.
4-4-61—Order granting leave to withdraw the pending
motion for further interlocutory and permanent in
junctive relief entered and filed.
1963
June 14—Motion to intervene as parties plaintiff filed by
Plaintiff.
June 14—Points and authorities in support of Motion for
Intervention filed.
2
June 14—Motion in intervention for further interlocutory
and permanent injunctive relief filed.
June 21—Motion for further interlocutory and permanent
injunctive relied—filed.
June 21—Memorandum of points and authorities in
support of motion for further interlocutory and per
manent injunctive relief—filed.
July 3, ’63—Motion to Dismiss—Motion to Intervene.
Filed.
7-12-63—Pre-Trial—on all motions and merits 9-12-63.
7- 12-63—Motion to dismiss filed by defts.
8- 15-63—Motion to add defendants and amend the plead
ings—filed.
8-15-63—Memorandum of points and authorities in support
of motion to add defendants and amend the pleadings—
filed.
Sept. 12—See Entry 3067.
Mar. 9—Notice of Appeal—filed. $5.00 paid.
Mar. 9—Appeal Bond in the amount of two-hundred and
fifty executed and filed.
Mar. 12—Designation of Contents of Becord on Appeal—
filed.
Civil Action No. 3067
1963
Sept. 12—Motion to intervene as parties plaintiff—filed.
Sept. 12—Memorandum of points and authorities in
support of motion for intervention—filed.
Sept. 12—Motion for further interlocutory and permanent
injunctive relief—filed.
Sept. 12—Plaintiffs’ memorandum of points and author
ities in support of motion for further interlocutory
and permanent injunctive relief—filed.
Sept. 12—Motion to dismiss motion to intervene—filed by
defts.
3
Sept. 12—Motion to dismiss—filed by deft.
Sept. 12—Motion to add defendants and amend pleadings
—filed by plfs.
Sept. 12—Memorandum of points and authorities in sup
port of motion to add defendants and amend the
pleadings—filed.
Sept. 12—Trial Proceedings: This cause came on this day
to be heard on all pending motions, merits and
evidence. (1) Motion to add defendants, & amend the
pleadings. Motion by petitioners to withdraw. Peti
tioners motion to withdraw motion No. 1 granted.
(2) Motion to intervene as parties plaintiff filed
June 14, 1963 came on to be heard. Arguments of
counsel heard. Motion to intervene granted. Evidence
fully heard. Arguments of counsel to the Court heard.
Counsel for defendant announced to the Court that it
would consent to adopting the pleadings as filed
June 14, 1963 and thereafter as a new suit and to be
given a new civil number. The pleadings as filed in
this case shall be adopted as of June 14, 1963 in the
new case. Motion to withdraw prayer for counsel fee.
Motion granted. Court takes this matter under con
sideration.
Mar. 2—Memorandum Opinion entered and filed. Copies
sent to counsel.
Mar. 2—Order entered and filed dismissing the intervening
petition, treated as an original complaint, etc. Copies
sent as directed.
Mar. 9—Notice of Appeal filed—$5.00 paid.
Mar. 9—Appeal Bond in the amount of two-hundred and
fifty dollars executed and filed.
Mar. 12—Designation of Contents of Record on Appeal—
filed.
Mar. 17—Testimony of George H. Pope and Eugene L.
Newman—dated September 12, 1964. Filed.
4
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
AT ALEXANDRIA
Civil 1967
L awrence E dward Blackwell, et al.
v.
F airfax County School B oard, et al.
Findings of Fact and Conclusions of Law
Thirty-one Negro pupils applied for admission in the
present session to certain of the pnblie schools in Fairfax
County, Virginia, formerly attended only by white
students. The School Board approved five of the applica
tions, one has not been acted upon, and twenty-five were
refused. In this suit these twenty-five applicants ask the
Court to enjoin this refusal by the Board, as based on race
or color, and, so, offensive to the Federal constitution.
That race was the sole reason for declining the applica
tions of fifteen (Nos. 1, 2, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 21, 22, 23, 24,
25, 26, 27 and 28) of them is candidly declared by the Board
in its official statement of its action. However, the
differentiation for race was only temporary and was
justified, it explained, as the effect of the first stage of a
plan for the eventual removal of segregation in all the
schools. None of the fifteen came within the scope of this
first step. Additional grounds, such as scholarship and
residence disqualification, barred the other ten applicants.
I. The plan directs the lifting of segregation as a factor
of exclusion in the first and second grades for the session
1960-61, and thereafter in the next higher grades, at the
rate of one grade for each subsequent school year, until
all elementary and secondary grades are removed from
the rule of segregation. All of the 15-group are beyond
the second grade.
Their challenge of this plan is directed at the time
required for its effectuation. Assailing it as laggard, they
point out that the plan would not accomplish the complete
annulment of segregation — its purported aim — for ten
more years. As a consequence, they complain, no Negro
child now in the third or a more advanced grade would
ever be freed of the segregation exclusion. For such a
child the result is to enforce the old practice for many
years to come. This, they also conclude, proves the plan
unacceptable in the law as failing the test of all deliberate
speed.
In justification of the plan, the school authorities testify
to a necessity for gradualness in the conversion to open
schools from a school system distinguishing pupils by race
or color. They observe that Fairfax is still predominantly
a rural county, the people are not accustomed to un
segregated schools, and a sudden change in this usage
would result in an undue and undesirable abrasion of the
feelings of the people. This, they fear, might result in
such popular revulsion to an alteration in the policy of
segregation as to be a substantial obstacle to its entire
removal. These possibilities can be avoided, or at least
minimized, they believe, only by a moderately progressive
transition. They suggest it commence with the school
beginners—to introduce them early to an unsegregated
classroom so in later years they may more readily accept
the presence in their schools of students of another race
or color. Here the Superintendent and Board members
emphasize that children of this age enter the schools with
out prejudgment of the question and would quickly adapt
to the new arrangement. Such a resolution of the problem,
in the witnesses’ judgment, could not be as smoothly
attained in the older-age grades.
6
The good faith of both sides in their differences cannot
be donbted. Each cites judicial precedent. A somewhat
similar plan was approved for Nashville, Tennessee by the
United States Court of Appeals, Sixth Circuit, in Kelley
v. Board of Education, 270 F. 2d 209 (June 17, 1959), cert,
den. 361 U.S. 924. There the white students were 17,000
in number, and the Negroes 10,000, or about 37% of the
total school population. On the other hand, petitioners
rely on the United States Court of Appeals for the Third
Circuit, in its opinions of July 19 and August 29, 1960
in Evans et al. v. Ennis et al., involving the public schools
of Delaware. The number of Negro school children in that
State were 6,813.
But these decisions in truth are not diametrically
opposed. They have a common doctrine—that resolution
of these controversies cannot be reached by the application
of any universal principle, but rather the answer depends
upon local conditions, such as the number of the students,
the structure of the school system, the character of the
community and like personal and objective features. 'While
the Delaware decision is perhaps nearer, the facts in the
two cited cases are so far from comparable with those
present here that, save to declare a general guide of deter
mination, the opinions are not instantly helpful.
In Fairfax County in June, 1960, there were 53,823
pupils (including 272 not precisely graded) in the twelve
grades of the public schools—51,803 White and 2,020 Negro.
With some increase in the total, this ratio between the
races in the school population seemingly will continue for
the current term. The entire school population, say 54,000,
is spread among 94 school buildings. Among these are
six schools exclusively for Negro children—five elementary,
covering grades 1 to 6, and one secondary school caring
for grades 7 through 12.
In the first grade last session there were 307 Negroes
and 5,384 Whites, and in the second grade 228 and 5,596
7
Whites. This numerical relationship extended through the
third, fourth and fifth grades. From the sixth to the
twelfth, inclusive, the ratio is far lower, running about
1 to 30 until the final year when it diminishes to 1 to 40.
These figures disclose that the entire Negro school
attendance in Fairfax is not comparatively large, indeed,
less than 4% of the aggregate.
The proportion of White and Negro pupils in the specific
grades and schools now sought by the petitioners, even
if all of them were admitted as requested, would be as
follows:
Grade White Negro
1 5,384 4
2 5,596 3
3 5,463 5
4 5,146 6
5 5,013 2
6 4,969 2
7 4,986 3
8 4,112 2
9 3,300 1
10 3,001 1
11 2,620 1
12 1,979 1
The four Negroes entering 1st grade would be divided
equally between two schools, Belvedere and Flint Hill; the
three entering the 2nd grade would be divided among
three schools, Celar Lane, Flint Hill and Belvedere; the
five entering the 3rd grade would be divided among Flint
Hill, Cedar Lane and Belvedere; the six entering the 4th
grade would be divided: 2 in Cedar Lane, 1 in Hollin Hall,
1 in Devonshire, and 2 in Belvedere; the two entering the
5th grade would be in Hollin Hall and Devonshire; the two
entering the 6th grade would be in Belvedere and Devon
shire; the three entering the 7th grade would be in Flint
Hill, Parklawn and Lanier; the two entering the 8th grade
would be in Bryant; the one entering the 9th grade would
be in Groveton High School; the one entering the 10th grade
would be in James Madison High School; the one enter
ing the 11th grade would be in James Madison; and the
one entering the 12th grade would be in James Madison.
So that if all of the present applicants were received
into the white schools, only 10 of the 88 “ white” schools
would be affected. None of these would have more than
8 Negro students among the entire student body, the dis
persal being as follows: Belvedere 8, Flint Hill 5; Cedar
Lane 4; Devonshire 4; Hollin Hall 2; Parklawn 1 ; Lanier
1; Bryant 2; Groveton 1 ; and James Madison 3. In the
high schools there would be but 4 Negro students, and
these in three different schools, with no more than 1 in a
single class.
In these circumstances the allowance of the instant
applications would not, and could not, give ground for
public friction. The present conditions do not indicate
a need now to project the bar of the applicants into the
next ten years. Nor does the evidence immediately reveal
any such foreseeable disruption of the teaching staff or
strain on the physical facilities as warrant the delay.
That they are not in the first or second grade is the only
objection interposed to these fifteen students. In every
other way, concededly, they are qualified, and hence they
must be allowed to matriculate now in the schools they
seek.
II. As to the children turned down on additional grounds,
we notice first Nos. 6 and 7. In the amended complaint
they named Flint Hill as their desired school, specifying
the 10th and 11th grades. This request was disallowed
because Flint Hill does not offer those grades. The
evidence shows that originally their applications had been
for James Madison High School. Further amendment of
the complaint will be permitted so as to show Nos. 6 and
9
7 request James Madison. As the Board has not had the
opportunity to pass upon their transfer to James Madison,
the defendants in their answer to the amended complaint
will be directed to state their position as to pupils 6 and
7. At the same time the defendants should report their
action upon the prayer to enter Bryant of the intervenor,
No. 31, who came into the suit on September 8, 1960, too
late for consideration by the Board.
No. 3 also asked to go to Bryant School, 7th grade.
She has been assigned to Luther Jackson School which is
an all-Negro school having grades 7 to 12, inclusive, and
serving as the only high school in the county for Negroes.
This pupil lives within a city block of the school she
seeks, while the assigned school is, by road, more than
13 miles away. The ground of her rejection is “ Because
of academic record it is believed that applicant’s educa
tional needs can best be served in Luther Jackson School” .
For the last session she had a B average, her attendance
was good and her conduct satisfactory.
Pupils Nos. 10, 11 and 13 seek the 3rd and 4th grades in
Cedar Lane. Their assignment is to Louise Archer School.
Cedar Lane is within 1500 feet of their homes, while even
in an air-line Archer is more than 2 miles away. No. 10
failed and was retained one year in each of grades 2 and
3, but last year her scholastic record was better. No. 11
has a somewhat similar record, but has missed considerable
time each year. No. 13 has a comparable record
scholastically, also with substantial absences charged to
her. Both 10 and 11 have been rejected on academic
deficiencies similar to those ascribed supra to No. 3.
No. 13 was excluded on this ground and also on her
behavior record, as well as for want of emotional stability
and social adaptability.
All of these criteria may be valid in apt instances. The
court is not now ruling upon their validity. The point is
10
that they must be applied to both races equally before they
can be used to exclude either a White or Negro student.
Under the practice followed in respect to White children,
the residences of 3, 10, 11 and 13 entitle them to admission
to the schools they now request, but their assignments
have omitted consideration of this factor. Except for
their erroneous school zone assignment, it seems that they
would not have been confronted with the examination, for
it does not appear that White pupils with these same in
adequacies have been declined admittance to Bryant or
Cedar Lane. Consequently, as was likewise held in the
Arlington case decided in this court on September 16,
1960, these tests cannot be held to bar No. 3 from Bryant
and 10, 11 and 13 from Cedar Lane.
Students 8, 9 and 14 reside in the attendance area of
Louise Archer School. They desire to enter Flint Hill
School. They have been unsuccessful because Flint Hill
is overcrowded, while Louise Archer has no congestion.
Moreover, No. 14 lives closer to Louise Archer, and 8 and
9 are not much farther by road from Louise Archer than
from Flint Hill. Incidentally, Nos. 9 and 14 are within the
grades in which the rule of segregation no longer prevails
under the Board’s plan. There is nothing intimating un
fair treatment of these applicants and the action of the
Board has adequate support in the proof.
No. 5 is in the last year of high school at Luther Jackson.
His i*esidence is near James Madison High School and he
desires to be admitted there. Because of the imminence
of his graduation, the school authorities urgently advise
against the transfer. In this they refer to the weakness
of his academic record and note he was sent to the school
psychologist in 1959 for study of his apathy and loss of
interest. A marginal student, they fear a change from a
school familiar with his capacity, his potentialities, his
strength and his weaknesses might cause him to fail of
graduation. This counsel has been given him in the best
11
of faith. It is an entirely unselfish judgment. The court
cannot say that the determination of the School Board is
not without acceptable, as wTell as meritorious, support in
the evidence. There is here no showing that White students
in the same situation would not be retained in the school
of prior attendance. No consideration whatsoever of race
appears in this decision. In so nicely balanced a question,
the court should not permit the judgment of the pupil to
be substituted for that of the school authorities.
The ultimate conclusion of the court is to admit to the
schools respectively requested 19 of the applicants, that is :
Rayfield Barber, Jr. to G-roveton High;
Doris Jeannette Barber to Bryant;
Doris E. Hunter to Cedar Lane;
Bernice Lee to Parklawn;
Solomon Lee to Belvedere;
Reginald Lyles to Hollin Hall;
Ronald Lyles to Hollin Hall;
Carolyn M. Smith to Lanier;
Pierce Smith to Devonshire;
Mary Ellen Smith to Devonshire;
Sharon Smith to Devonshire;
Brenda Summers to Belvedere;
Carlton T. Summers to Belvedere;
Autra Wheeler to Belvedere;
Karen Wheeler to Belvedere;
Linda Monette Barber to Bryant;
Ethel Marie Brooks to Cedar Lane;
Phoebe Ann Brooks to Cedar Lane; and
William Maurice Brooks to Cedar Lane
The remaining 7 applications are not granted. A general
injunction is not called for in this case, because the School
Board and the Superintendent readily recognize their
obligation to avoid discrimination for race or color and
have demonstrated a purpose to adhere to this duty.
12
Let petitioner’s attorneys present an order in accordance
herewith, first submitting it to the opposing attorneys for
consideration as to form.
(Sgd.) Albert V. Bryan
United States District Judge
September 22nd, 1960.
Decree
This cause came on to be heard on the 8th and 11th
days of September, 1960, upon the papers formerly read;
upon the Amended Complaint; upon the Answer to the
Amended Complaint and Exhibits attached thereto; upon
the Motion of Barbara Ann Jackson, infant, and Alfred
Jackson, her father and next friend, to Intervene, to which
motion the defendants consented; upon the Complaint in
Intervention; upon the Motion for leave to correct the
Amended Complaint, to which the defendants consented;
and upon consideration of the evidence and arguments of
counsel for all parties, for the reasons set forth in the
Findings of Facts and Conclusions of Law filed September
22, 1960, it is
Ordered:
1. That the Motion for Intervention of Barbara Ann
Jackson, et al, be granted.
2. That the Motion to Correct the Amended Bill of Com
plaint be granted.
3. That the defendants, their successors in office, agents
and employees be and each of them is hereby restrained
and enjoined from refusing to admit the following plain
tiffs to, or enroll or educate them in, the said schools to
which they have made application, this is :
33
Bayfield Barber, Jr. to Groveton High;
Doris Jeannette Barber to Bryant;
Doris E. Hunter to Cedar Lane;
Bernice Lee to Parklawn;
Solomon Lee to Belvedere;
Beginald Lyles to IJollin Hall;
Ronald Lyles to Hollin Hall;
Carolyn. M. Smith to Lanier;
Pierce Smith to Devonshire;
Mary Ellen Smith to Devonshire;
Sharon Smith to Devonshire;
Brenda Summers to Belvedere;
Carlton T. Summers to Belvedere;
Autra Wheeler to Belvedere;
Karen Wheeler to Belvedere;
Linda Monette Barber to Bryant;
Ethel Marie Brooks to Cedar Lane;
Phoebe Ann Brooks to Cedar Lane; and
William Maurice Brooks to Cedar Lane
4. That the action of the defendants in refusing to admit,
enroll and educate the plaintiffs, Cheryl R. Bigelow in
James Madison High School; Lawrence E. Blackwell,
Donna Blackwell and Warren Carter in Flint Hill School,
be and the same is hereby sustained and the prayers to
the Amended Complaint are denied as to them and their
parents.
5. It appearing that the remaining plaintiffs have been
assigned by the Virginia Pupil Placement Board to the
schools to which they sought admission and have been
admitted and enrolled therein, their cases are now moot
and no action is required by this Court on their prayers
in the Amended Complaint.
6. That the remaining prayers of the Amended Com
plaint be and the same are hereby denied.
14
All matters in issue having been disposed of, and it ap
pearing that all plaintiffs who are entitled to admission into
the schools to which they applied have been admitted and
enrolled in such schools, including those described in para
graph 3 of this Order who were admitted, immediately
after receipt of copies of the Findings of Fact and Con
clusions of Law dated September 22, 1960; it is, therefore,
further
Ordered th a t this action be, and it is hereby, stricken
from the docket.
/s / Albert V. B ryan
United States District Judge
November 1st, 1960.
[Filed 11/10/1960]
Motion for New Trial on Pari of the Issues Pursuant to
Rule 59, Federal Rules of Civil Procedure
Plaintiffs, by their attorneys, move the Court to set aside
that portion of the judgment entered in this cause on
November 1, 1960, which ordered the case dismissed and
stricken from the docket, on the ground that this portion
of the judgment is contrary to law, in that the Court is
required by controlling precedents to retain jurisdiction
of the cause until a complete transition from a racially
segregated school system to a racially non-discriminatory
system has been effected. In view of the facts plainly
appearing in this case that the discriminatory system has
not been completely eliminated, and that there has been no
change of the policy of making initial assignments on a
racially segregated basis, and considering that the Court
decided not to issue either a general order prohibiting
discrimination or an order prohibiting the defendants’
policy of making racially segregated initial assignments,
15
it is submitted that the Court should modify its order to
provide that jurisdiction of the cause be retained.
Respectfully submitted,
Of Counsel for Plaintiffs
Otto L. T ucker
901 Princess Street
Alexandria, Virginia
F rank D. Reeves
473 Florida Ave., N. W.
Washington 1, D. C.
J ames M. Nabrit, III
10 Columbus Circle
New York 19, New York
[Filed 6/14/63]
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
EOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
ALEXANDRIA DIVISION
Civil Action No. 1967
L awrence E dward Blackwell, et al., Plaintiffs,
v.
F airfax County School Board, et al., Defendants,
Glenda Blakeney, infant, by Evelyn Blakeney, her
mother and next friend,
Rte 1, Box 23E,
Alexandria, Virginia,
16
Queen E ster Cox, infant, by Midred Cox, her mother and
next friend,
Bte 1, Box 504,
Alexandria, Virginia,
Calvin Charles J ackson, infant, by Ada Jackson, his
mother and next friend,
P.O. Box 135,
Herndon, Virginia,
B oland W ilson Smith , J r., and Derrick Norman Smith ,
infants, by Boland W. Smith, their father and next
friend,
516 Shreve Street,
Falls Chnrch, Virginia; and
E velyn Blakeney, Mildred Cox, Ada J ackson, and
B oland W. Smith ,
Applicants for Intervention.
Motion to Intervene as Parties Plaintiff
The above-named applicants respectfully move the Court
that they be permitted to intervene as parties plaintiff in
this action and to file their complaint in intervention, upon
the following grounds:
1. The applicants for intervention are members of the
class on behalf of which this action was brought.
2. The applicants have a substantial interest in the
subject matter of the action.
3. They are, and will be bound by, and benefit from, any
judgment, decree or order entered, or to be entered, in this
action.
4. Their motion for further relief and the action in which
they seek to intervene has questions of law and fact in
common.
5. Their intervention will not to any extent delay or
prejudice the further adjudication of the rights of the
17
original parties or other members of the class on behalf of
which this action was brought.
W herefore, applicants pray that this motion and such
other relief as may be determined by this Court in accord
ance with the proposed motion in intervention for further
interlocutory and injunctive relief filed herewith be
granted.
Otto L. T ucker
901 Princess Street
Alexandria, Virginia
S. W. Tucker
214 East Clay Street
Richmond 19, Virginia
J ames M. Nabrit, III
10 Columbus Circle
New York 19, New York
Attorneys for Applicants
Of Counsel:
Allison W. B rown, J r.
Suite 705
1000 Connecticut Avenue
Washington 6, I), C.
Motion in Intervention for Further Interlocutory and
Permanent Injunctive Relief
The above-named intervenors respectfully move the
Court to grant them further necessary and proper relief
as prayed herein, and as grounds for said motion state:
1. (a) That, as Negroes, they are members of the class
on behalf of which this action was brought to obtain
injunctive relief against the defendants County School
Board of Fairfax County, Virginia, et al., to prohibit the
18
system of racial segregation in the public schools of Fair
fax County, Virginia.
(b) That this cause came on for trial on September 8
and 11, 1960, and thereafter the Court entered its Findings
of Fact and Conclusions of Law on September 22, 1960,
and an order in accordance therewith on November 1, 1960.
(c) That the order of the Court entered on November 1,
1960, provided, among other things, that the cause be dis
missed and struck from the docket. Thereafter, plaintiffs
filed a timely motion pursuant to Rule 59, Federal Rules
of Civil Procedure, seeking a rehearing on part of the
issues and modification of the order of November 1, 1960,
to provide that jurisdiction of the cause be retained by
the Court.
(d) That while plaintiffs’ motion for rehearing on part
of the issues and modification of the order was pending,
the Court received for filing in this cause a motion by
plaintiffs for further interlocutory and permanent in
junctive relief by which motion the plaintiffs requested
that the Court restrain the defendants from enforcing in
public schools under their supervision and control any
policy or regulation requiring racial segregation in inter
scholastic sports and other school activities. As a result
of subsequent recision by the defendants of the dis
criminatory policy complained of, the plaintiffs thereafter
moved to withdraw their motion for further injunctive
relief. The plaintiffs’ motion to withdraw was granted
by order of the Court dated April 14, 1961.
2. That notwithstanding the holding and admonitions in
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 and 349 U.S.
294, and Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1, and other controlling
authorities, and notwithstanding the defendants’ obliga
tion, noted by this Court in the Findings of Fact and Con-
19
elusions of Law dated September 22, 1960, “ to avoid
discrimination for race or color,” the defendants, as a
matter of policy, practice, custom or usage, continue to
maintain and operate a bi-racial school system in which
certain schools are designated for Negro children only
and certain schools are designated for white children. As
a matter of routine every child entering the Fairfax County
school system for the first time, if Negro, is initially
assigned to, and placed in, a school designated for Negro
children, and every white child is initially assigned to,
and placed in a school designated for white children.
3. That as a result of the circumstances described in
paragraph 2 hereof, the pattern of segregated education
in Fairfax County continues unaffected except in those
instances in which individual Negroes have sought and
obtained admission to a school designated for white
children.
4. That on or before April 5, 1963, applications were
made to the defendants that the infant intervenors be
transferred from certain schools which none but Negroes
attended, and that they be admitted to, and enrolled in, the
schools to which they would be assigned if it were not
for the fact that they are Negroes. It was thereafter
made known to the parent or guardian of each infant
intervenor that said intervenor’s application had been
denied. An appeal from said determination was there
after made on behalf of each infant intervenor to the
defendant School Board and the Board conducted hearing
at which each intervenor was represented by legal counsel.
Notwithstanding the presentation by counsel of various
arguments supporting the requested transfers, it was
thereafter made known to the parent or guardian of each
infant intervenor that said intervenor’s appeal had been
denied.
20
5. That the schools to which the infant intervenors seek
assignment, and to which they would, as a matter of
routine, be assigned if they were white are as follows:
Glenda Blakeney
Queen Ester Cox
Stratford Landing Elementary
School
Stratford Landing Elementary
School
Calvin Charles Jackson Herndon Elementary School
Roland Wilson Smith, Jr. Pine Spring Elementary School
Herrick Norman Smith Pine Spring Elementary School
6. That the refusal of the defendants to permit the
infant intervenors to be admitted to, and enrolled in, the
schools designated in paragraph 5 hereof is arbitrary,
capricious and discriminatory, the purpose of the defend
ants in limiting transfers of Negro children to schools
which white children attend being to maintain a school or
schools which none but Negroes attend and in which none
but Negroes teach.
7. That but for the deliberate purpose of the defendants
to avoid performance of their duty as mentioned in para
graph 2 hereof, the intervenors would have no need to
apply for attendance at the schools specified. But for
the fact that they are Negroes, the intervenors would have
been assigned as a matter of routine to the schools which
they seek to attend.
8. That for reasons stated in paragraph 2 through 7
hereof, and for reasons apparent upon the face of the
Virginia Statute pertaining to Local Enrollment or Place
ment of Pupils (Sections 22-232.18 through 22-232.31 of
the Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended), the said statute
does not provide an adequate remedy for the relief the
intervenors seek.
21
9. That the refusal of the defendants to grant the
requested assignments, viewed in the light of the refusal
of the defendants to bring about the elimination of racial
segregation in the public school system of Fairfax County
constitutes a denial to the intervenors, and others similarly
situated and affected, of due process of law and the equal
protection of the laws secured by the Fourteenth Amend
ment to the Constitution, as well as the rights secured by
Title 42, United States Code, Section 1981.
10. That the intervenors, and others similarly situated
and affected, are suffering irreparable injury and are
threatened with irreparable injury in the future by reason
of the policy, practice, custom, usage and actions herein
complained of. They have no plain, adequate or complete
remedy to redress the wrongs and illegal acts herein com
plained of, other than by this Court’s granting injunctive
relief. Any other remedy to which the intervenors and
others similarly situated could be remitted would be
attended by such uncertainties and delays as would deny
substantial relief, would involve a multiplicity of suits, and
would cause further irreparable injury and occasion
damage, vexation and inconveniences.
W herefore, intervenors respectfully pray that the Court
enter an interlocutory and permanent injunction:
(a) Restraining and enjoining the defendants, and each
of them, their successors in office, and their agents and
employees, from refusing to admit, enroll and educate
forthwith the infant intervenors, and other children
similarly situated, in the designated schools for which they
have applied, or may apply, or in such other schools under
the jurisdiction and control of the defendants for which
said children are otherwise qualified and eligible for
admission, enrollment and education, on the basis of the
same standards and criteria applied in determining the
22
admission of all children in said schools, excluding any
and all consideration of their race or color.
(b) Restraining and enjoining the defendants from
making initial assignments of Negro children to schools
which none hut Negroes attend.
Intervenors pray that this Court allow them their costs
herein and reasonable attorneys’ fees, and grant such
other and further relief as may he just and equitable in
the premises.
/ s / .........................................
Otto L. T ucker
901 Princess Street
Alexandria, Virginia
S. W. Tucker
214 East Clay Street
Richmond 19, Virginia
J ames M. Nabrit, III
10 Columbus Circle
New York 19, New York
Attorneys for Intervenors
Of Counsel:
Allison W. Brown, J r.
Suite 705
1000 Connecticut Avenue
Washington 6, D. C.
23
Affidavit
State of Virginia, ) .
City of Alexandria. 3
Otto L. Tucker, being duly sworn according to law, de
poses and says as follows:
1. That he, in association with others, is attorney for the
intervenors in the above-entitled cause.
2. That he is informed and believes that all of the allega
tions of fact set forth in the motion in intervention for fur
ther interlocutory and permanent relief herein are true.
/ s / Otto L. T ucker
Subscribed and sworn to before me
this day of 1963.
M ......................................................
Notary Public
24
[Filed 6/21/63]
IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
ALEXANDRIA DIVISION
Civil Action No. 1967
L awrence E dward Blackwell, P hyllis R osetta Black-
well, and Donna Blackwell, infants, by Lillian S.
Blackwell, their mother and next friend,
R.F.D. #2, Box 77, Vienna, Virginia,
R ayfield Barber, J r., Doris J eanette Barber, and L inda
Monette Barber, infants, by Beatrice S. Barber, their
mother and next friend,
610 Emmitt Drive, Alexandria, Virginia,
Bernice Lee and Solomon L ee, infants, by Constance Lee,
their mother and next friend,
4202 First Street, Alexandria, Virginia,
R eginald W. L yles and Ronald L. L yles, infants, by Major
W. Lyles, their father and next friend,
423 E. Boulevard Drive, Alexandria, Virginia,
Mary E llen Smith , P ierce A. Smith , and Sharon Smith ,
infants, by William P. Smith, their father and next
friend,
1553 Lee Highway, Falls Church, Virginia
A utra W heeler, and K aren A. W heeler, infants, by Ethel
Wheeler, their mother and next friend,
Route 4, Box 604, Annandale, Virginia,
W arren Brent Carter, infant, by Wyndell W. Carter, his
father and next friend,
356 Lawyer Road, Box 151, Vienna, Virginia,
E thel Marie Brooks, W illiam Maurice Brooks, and
P hoebe Ann Brooks, infants, by Ethel Brooks, their
mother and next friend,
Route 5, Box 301, Vienna, Virginia,
25
Doris E. H unter, infant, by Evelyn Hunter, her mother
and next friend,
Rte 5, Box 301, Vienna, Virginia,
Brenda E. Summers and Carlton T. Summers, infants, by
Lillian J. Summers, their mother and next friend,
Rte 4, Box 595A, Annandale, Virginia,
Barbara Ann J ackson, infant, by Alfred Jackson, her
father and next friend,
872B Quander Road, Alexandria, Virginia; and
L illian S. Blackwell, Beatrice S. B arber, Constance L ee,
Major W. L yles, W illiam P. Smith , E thel W heeler,
W yndell W. Carter, E thel Brooks, E velyn H unter,
L illian J. Summers and Alfred J ackson,
Plaintiffs,
v.
F airfax County School Board, a body corporate, Fairfax,
Virginia, and
E arl C. F underburk, Division Superintendent, Fairfax
County Public Schools, Fairfax, Virginia,
Defendants.
Motion for Further Interlocutory and
Permanent Injunctive Relief
The above-named plaintiffs respectfully move the Court
to grant them and others of the class they represent fur
ther necessary and proper relief as prayed herein, and as
grounds for said motion state:
1. (a) That they are among the group of Negro plain
tiffs in this class action which they brought on behalf of
themselves and others similarly situated to obtain injunc
tive relief against the defendants County School Board of
Fairfax County, Virginia, et al., to prohibit the system of
2 6
racial segregation in the public schools of Fairfax County,
Virginia.
(b) That the cause came on for trial on September 8 and
11, 1960, and thereafter the Court entered its Findings of
Fact and Conclusions of Law on September 22, 1960, and
an order in accordance therewith on November 1, 1960.
(c) That the order of the Court entered on November 1,
1960, provided, among other things that the cause be dis
missed and struck from the docket. Thereafter, plaintiffs
filed a timely motion pursuant to Rule 59, of the Federal
Rules of Civil Procedure, seeking a rehearing on part of
the issues and modification of the order of November 1,
1960, to provide that jurisdiction of the cause be retained
by the Court.
(d) That while plaintiffs’ motion for rehearing on part
of the issues and modification of the order was pending,
the Court received for filing in this cause a motion by plain
tiffs for further interlocutory and permanent injunctive
relief by which motion the plaintiffs requested that the
Court restrain the defendants from enforcing in public
schools under their supervision and control any policy or
regulation requiring racial segregation in interscholastic
sports or other school activities. As a result of subsequent
rescision by the defendants of the discriminatory policy
complained of, the plaintiffs thereafter moved to withdraw
their motion for further injunctive relief. The plaintiffs’
motion to withdraw was granted by order of the Court
dated April 14, 1961.
2. That notwithstanding the holding and admonitions in
Brown v. Board of Education, 347 U.S. 483 and 349 U.S.
294, and Cooper v. Aaron, 358 U.S. 1, and other controlling
authorities, and notwithstanding the defendants’ obliga
tion, noted by this Court in its Findings of Fact and Con
clusions of Law dated September 22, 1960, “ to avoid dis
crimination for race or color,” the defendants, as a matter
27
of policy, practice, custom or usage, continue to maintain
and operate a bi-racial school system in which certain
schools are designated for Negro children only and are
staffed by Negro principals, teachers and administrative
personnel, and certain schools are designated for white
children and are staffed by white principals, teachers and
administrative personnel. A dual set of school zone lines
is also maintained. These lines are based solely upon race
and color. One set of lines relates to the attendance areas
for the Negro schools; these lines overlap the lines bound
ing attendance areas for the white schools.
3. That the pattern of segregated education in Fairfax
County continues unaffected except in those instances in
which individual Negroes have sought and obtained admis
sion to a school designated for white students.
4. That as a matter of routine, every white child enter
ing the Fairfax County school system for the first time is
initially assigned to, and placed in, a school designated for
white children. Every white child, upon promotion from
the highest grade in elementary school, is routinely as
signed to an intermediate school designated for white
children, and upon graduation from intermediate school
every white child is routinely assigned to a high school
designated as one for the education of white children.
5. That as a matter of routine, every Negro child enter
ing the Fairfax County school system for the first time is
initially assigned to, and placed in, a school which none but
Negroes attend, and upon promotion from the highest
grade in elementary school, such Negro child is routinely
assigned to the Luther Jackson school, an all-Negro com
bined intermediate and high school located in Fairfax
County which is operated by, and under the supervision
and control of, the defendants.
6. That to avoid the racially discriminatory result of the
practice described in the two paragraphs next preceding,
28
a Negro child’s parent, guardian or other person having
custody of the child is required to make application for
transfer of the child from the school which none but Ne
groes attend to a school specifically named. Such assign
ment application must be made on a specially prepared
form which can only be obtained upon specific request at
the administrative offices of the defendant School Board,
Fairfax, Virginia. This special application form, a copy
of which is attached hereto as Exhibit “ A”, requires in
formation to be supplied concerning Negro children, such
as the reason why the specific assignment is sought, the
child’s aptitudes, its handicaps or disabilities, as well as
other matters. Since such information is not required
from white children assigned to the same school to which
the Negro child seeks assignment, the application form is
in itself inherently discriminatory.
(b) That the application to transfer a Negro child out
of an all-Negro school must be filed at a particular time of
the year—the deadline, except in the case of new residents
in the County and certain others, being April 5 preceding
the school year to which the placement requested is to be
applicable. Neither this unnecessarily early deadline nor
the procedure for transferring out of Negro schools has
been specially publicized by the defendants. Each year
there are Negro families that apply, after the April 5 dead
line, to transfer their children out of the all-Negro schools,
but the defendants, as a matter of course, deny such ap
plications.
(c) That in each of the three years that the foregoing
transfer procedure has been in effect in Fairfax County,
certain of the applications on behalf of Negro children to
transfer from all-Negro schools have been initially turned
down, with the result that the parent, guardian or other
person having custody of such child, who seeks reversal of
such initial determination, has been required to pursue an
appeal procedure as set forth in Section 22-232.21, Code of
Virginia of 1950, as amended. The nature of this appeal
29
procedure is such, that the Negro families pursuing this
remedy have in virtually every instance felt the need to
engage the services of legal counsel to represent their in
terests before the defendant School Board.
7. That the assignment and transfer procedures de
scribed in paragraph 6 and its subparagraphs do not sat
isfy the Due Process and Equal Protection requirements
of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution, for by
reason of the existing segregation pattern it is Negro
children, primarily, who seek transfers and they are thus
subjected to administrative burdens and inconveniences
not experienced by white children.
8. That the plaintiffs and members of their class are
injured by the defendants ’ policy, practice, custom or usage
of assigning principals, teachers and administrative per
sonnel on the basis of the race or color of the person as
signed, and that such policy, practice, custom or usage
violates the right of plaintiffs and members of their class,
arising under the Due Process and Equal Protection clauses
of the Constitution, with respect to the public school system
of which they are a part to have that system operated on
a non-racial basis.
9. That the defendants ’ policy, practice, custom or usage
of continuing to operate a bi-racial school system consti
tutes a denial to the plaintiffs and members of their class
of due process of law and the equal protection of the laws
secured by the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution,
as well as the rights secured by Title 42, United States
Code, Section 1981.
10. That the plaintiffs and members of their class are
suffering irreparable injury and are threatened with ir
reparable injury in the future by reason of the policy,
practice, custom, usage and actions herein complained of.
They have no plain, adequate or complete remedy to re
dress the wrongs and illegal acts herein complained of,
other than by this Court’s granting injunctive relief. Any
30
other remedy to which the plaintiffs and members of their
class could he remitted would he attended by such uncer
tainties and delays as would deny substantial relief, would
involve a multiplicity of suits, and would cause further
irreparable injury and occasion damage, vexation and in
conveniences.
W herefore, plaintiffs respectfully pray that this Court
enter an interlocutory and permanent injunction:
(a) Restraining and enjoining the defendants, and each
of them, their successors in office, and their agents and em
ployees (1 ) from any and all action that regulates or af
fects, on the basis of race or color, the initial assignment,
the placement, the transfer, the admission, the enrollment
or the education of any child to and in any public school
under the defendants’ supervision and control; (2) from
using any separate racial attendance area maps or zones
or their equivalent in determining the placement of chil
dren in schools; (3) from requiring any applicants for
transfer from Negro to white schools to submit to any
futile, burdensome, or discriminatory administrative pro
cedures in order to obtain such transfers, including (but
not limited to) the use of any criteria or standards for de
termining such requests which are not generally and uni
formly used in assigning all pupils, as well as the require
ment of administrative hearings or other procedures not
uniformly applied in assigning pupils; (4) from employing
or assigning principals, teachers or other school personnel
on the basis of the race or color of the person employed or
assigned, or on the basis of the race or color of the pupils
attending the school to which such person is assigned.
(b) Restraining and enjoining the defendants, and each
of them, their successors in office, and their agents and em
ployees, from operating a hi-racial school system.
Plaintiffs pray that this Court allow them their costs
herein and reasonable attorneys’ fees, and grant such other
31
and further relief as may be just and equitable in the
premises.
/ s / Otto L. T ucker
901 Princess Street
Alexandria, Virginia
Of Counsel:
S. W. T ucker
214 East Clay Street
Richmond 19, Virginia
J ames E. Nabrit, III
10 Columbus Circle
New York 19, N. Y.
Attorneys for Plaintiffs
Aluisox W. Browx, J r.
Suite 705
1000 Connecticut Avenue
Washington 6, D. C.
Affidavit
State of Virginia, } .
City of Alexandria. )
Otto L. Tucker, being duly sworn according to law, de
poses and says as follows:
1. That he, in association with others, is attorney for the
plaintiffs in the above-entitled cause.
2. That he is informed and believes that all of the allega
tions of fact set forth in the motion for further inter
locutory and permanent relief herein are true.
/ s / Otto L. Tucker
Subscribed and sworn to before me
this 21st day June 1963.
N ........................................
Notary Public
32
Exhibit "A"
PUPIL PLACEMENT APPLICATION
I, the undersigned as .........................................................
(Insert relation, such as parent, legal guardian, etc.)
of the child named below, request that the child named in
this application be placed in the ....................grade of the
....................... School, ............................... County, City,
or Town for th e .................................. school session.
Pull Name of Child: ...........................................................
First Middle Last
Address: ...............................................................................
(Street or R.F.D. Number)
Post office .............................................................................
S e x :.........Race: ...........Year and Date of Birth* : ...........
Place of Birth: ....................................................................
Total number of years child has attended school (including
present year): ......................................................................
Name and address of school attended by child previous
year: .................................................................... ...............
...................................................... Grade: .........................
Name and address of school child is attending this year:
...................................................... Grade: .........................
Physical or mental handicaps or disabilities: .....................
Reason(s) for this request:................................................
Particular aptitudes:
Name and location of school or schools in Virginia in which
other children for whom I am legally responsible are en
rolled : .................................................................................
33
The foregoing is certified on oath or affirmation to he
true and complete.
Signed: .......................................................
(Name of Parent, Guardian or Custodian)
Street or P.O. A ddress..............................
City, Town, and S ta te ................................
Date: ..............................
*A birth certificate or photostatic copy thereof shall be
attached to this application if the pupil:
(1) Has moved to Virginia from another state,
(2) has moved from another county or City within the
State,
(3) has not previously been enrolled in any school
(those entering first grade).
INFORMATION REQUESTED BY THE
LOCAL SCHOOL BOARD
Principal’s Recommendation. (Optional at the discretion
of the local school board)
In my judgement, the transfer and/or placement o f .........
.................................. to (in) the .....................................
(name of child)
School would be ..................................... in his (her) best
Would not b e ................................
educational interest.
Date: .....................
Name of School . . .
Signed:
Principal
School Address
34
Action taken by the school board or its agent and reason(s)
therefor
(Date on which official placement is made)
School Board of
(County or City)
By:
Motion io Dismiss Motion to Intervene
Without admitting the right of the applicants to inter
vene in this cause, the defendant, Fairfax County School
Board, moves the Court to dismiss the motion to intervene
filed by Glenda Blakeney, et al, on the following grounds:
That at a meeting of the Fairfax County School Board
held on July 1, 1963, a resolution was adopted rescinding
the action of the Board previously taken with respect to the
applications of Glenda Blackeney, et al, and at the same
time granting the applications of the following named
children to attend the schools indicated:
Glenda Blakeney—Stratford Landing Elementary School
Queen Esther Cox—Stratford Landing Elementary
School
Calvin Charles Jackson—Herndon Elementary School
Roland Wilson Smith, Jr.-—Pine Spring Elementary
School
Derrick Norman Smith—Pine Spring Elementary School
A copy of said resolution is hereto attached and prayed
to be read as a part hereof.
J ames K eith
Attorney for Defendant
200 South Payne Street
Fairfax, Virginia
35
OFFICE OF
FAIRFAX COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD
400 Jones Street
FAIRFAX, VIRGINIA
E. C. FUNDERBURK, DIVISION SUPERINTENDENT
W. CLEMENT JACOBS, CLERK
July 2, 1963
Mr. James Keith
Pickett, Keith & Mackall
200 South Payne Street
Fairfax, Virginia
Dear Mr. Keith:
Following is action of the Fairfax County School Board
at its meeting of July 1, 1963, with respect to pupil
placements:
“ Mr. Clark moved that the Board publicly reaffirm its
action of June 24, 1963, by which it rescinded its May 20
denial of placement appeals on behalf of five negro students,
on advice of its attorney that the School Board was in an
indefensible position in the suit filed by the appellants in
protest of original assignments, thereby permitting attend
ance of these five applicants at schools as follows, in lieu
of previous assignments to negro schools:
Glenda Blakeney—Stratford Landing Elem.
Queen Ester Cox— Stratford Landing Elem.
Roland Wilson Smith, Jr.—Pine Spring Elem.
Derrick Norman Smith—Pine Spring Elem.
Calvin Charles Jackson—Herndon Elem.
“ Mrs. Lahr seconded the motion and it carried by vote of
three in favor (Mrs. Gertwagen, Mr. Clark and Mrs. Lahr)
and two against (Messrs. Hoofnagle and Futch), the Chair
man abstaining from voting.”
X hereby certify that the foregoing is a true and accurate
excerpt from the minutes of a meeting of the Fairfax
36
County School Board on July 1, 1963, in its Administration
Building.
W. Clement J acobs
W. Clement Jacobs, Clerk, County
School Board of Fairfax County,
st Virginia
Motion to Dismiss
The defendants move the Court as follows:
1) To dismiss the motion for further interlocutory and
permanent injunctive relief filed by the attorneys for the
plaintiffs on July 21, 1963, because there has been entered
in this cause a final order or decree which ordered that
“ this action be . . . stricken from the docket,” which order
or decree was entered on November 1,1960, and which order
has not been amended in any form or fashion by the Court.
2) To dismiss said motion on the ground that this Court
is without jurisdiction to hear the same because a final
order was entered in this cause on November 1, 1960.
3) To dismiss said motion because it constitutes an
amendment of plaintiffs ’ pleadings and is not done by leave
of Court as required by Rule 15.
4) To dismiss said motion because it undertakes to raise
issues already raised in the former proceedings in this cause
and already decided by the order or decree of November
1, 1960.
J ames K eith
James Keith
Attorney for Defendants
200 South Payne Street
Fairfax, Virginia
37
Excerpts from Transcript of Proceedings
2 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF VIRGINIA
ALEXANDRIA DIVISION
Civil Action No. 3067
Glenda Blakeney, infant, et al., Plaintiff,
v.
F airfax County School Board, et al., Defendants.
Before United States District Judge
H on. Oren R. Lewis
September 12, 1963
Appearances:
Otto L. Tucker, E sq.
S. W. Tucker, E sq., and
Allison W. Brown, J r., E sq.,
For the Plaintiff.
J ames K eith , E sq.,
For the Defendants.
3 George H. Pope
called as a witness in behalf of the plaintiff, and having
first been duly sworn, was examined and testified as fol
lows :
Direct Examination
By Mr. S. W. Tucker:
Q. Will you state your name and official position? A. I
am George H. Pope. I am Associate Superintendent of
the schools in Fairfax County.
* * * * * * * * * *
5 Q. Will you tell us how many schools remain in
Fairfax County, speaking about public schools in
the school system— A. Yes, sir.
Q. —identifying them by name, if you can, which are
peculiar in that none but negroes attend those schools and
none but negroes may teach in those schools, in other
words, what I am trying to find out is how many and
what are the negro schools in Fairfax County. A. Oh,
there are presently 7 schools attended entirely by pupils
of the colored race.
Q. And, I believe, one of those is the Luther Jackson
School? A. That is true.
Q. That is a combination school, running all grades from
1 through 12? A. No, sir. That is a combination junior
and senior high school, with two classes for retarded chil
dren assigned there. They do not run the gamut of
6 grades 1 through 12.
Q. And the other six schools that you mentioned
in this category are elementary schools, then? A. That is
true.
Q. I want to ask you, with reference to the Luther
Jackson Junior and Senior High School, if you may call it
that—■ A. Officially, it is an Intermediate and Senior High
School. We use the word, intermediate school, rather than
a junior high school, for grades 7 and 8.
7 Q. All right. So that, as far as the County
Schools are concerned, the only elementary schools which
feed the Jackson Intermediate and Senior School are these
six schools which we have identified as being peculiar in
that none but negroses attend or teach there? A. That has
been the case up to this point.
Q. Now, as to the children who attend these seven
schools which we are identifying now as negro schools,
do they ride in separate school buses from other children
in the county? A. Well, if your—
Q. What I want to know is whether these children who
attend these all negro schools ride special buses that serve
those schools only, or whether they ride buses with other
children in the county. A. In the regular term, they ride
39
buses that serve those schools only because that is the
way we assign all of our buses, to specific schools.
Q. All right. So that it results, then, that these
8 six elementary schools and the Luther Jackson Inter
mediate and Senior School and the buses that serve
those schools are used and operated by negroes? A. They
are attended—
Q. Excuse me. A. —by negro pupils.
Q. Exclusively? A. They are staffed by negro staffs.
Q. Now, can you tell us, approximately, how many chil
dren attend those seven schools? A. If you bear with me
just a moment, sir.
Q. If you have had the figures for the schools separate,
we would probably rather have it that way. A. 2101 of
them. 2101 pupils attending those schools.
Q. Approximately how many pupils do you have in the
entire school system? A. 80,558. Of the number that I
gave you of 2101, that does not include all negro pupils in
the county. Maybe your question was, attending those
seven schools?
Q. That is correct. A. I have 428 more.
Q. There are 428 negro children attending schools with
white children? A. Yes, sir.
# * # # # * * # * *
9 Q. Now, with reference to your school system,
generally, and I am speaking now with reference to
white children, what is your system by which a child knows
where he attends school? A. Well, we have general attend
ance areas, not too well defined, in our county because of
our tremendous growth, recognizing that we have over
7600 more pupils now than we had when the schools closed
last June, so, in that situation, it is impossible to define for
one and for all time school attendance areas because they
shift even from, certainly from year to year and some
times from month to month because of opening of new sub
divisions and relocation of people and new persons moving
into areas where before there were no residents of school
40
age. So we have a general consensus, general understand
ing, of the service area of each of our schools consistent
with the capacity of each of the schools. And it doesn’t,
necessarily, mean that it always serves all pupils nearest
to it because we have one school, say, of 25 class rooms
and another of 10. Obviously, the 25 class room school can
reach farther out from it with its service area than can the
small one.
Q. So, even though the lines may shift from time to time,
at any given time, it is possible to define a geo-
10 graphic area and relate that area to each of your
elementary schools? A. For practical purposes, that
is true.
Q. The same thing would be true with reference to your
intermediate schools? A. Yes, sir.
Q. And the same thing would be true with reference to
your senior high schools? A. Yes, sir. I think, at that
point, there is probably a little more information than just
yes or no—
Q. All right. A. -—because I think it is related, if you
please, to a statement that I just made, for practical pur
poses this is true. These are not completely and totally
and perfectly binding. We do have a great deal of latitude
on the part of individuals within the framework of law
to move from one school to another, as they have done,
even with these 428 colored pupils I referred to a moment
ago.
Q. But, as a general rule, with the exceptions that you
have mentioned allowed for, a white child’s school attend
ance is determined by the location of his home? A. Yes,
sir.
Q. All right. Now, as to these six elementary schools
that we have identified as negro schools, do they have
attendance areas? A. In part, with particular ref-
11 erence where there are concentrations of pupils
around a school. There are a few of these six ele
mentary schools that we have described as serving all
colored pupils that exist right in a community that is pre-
41
dominantly negro community. That particular community
has not been zoned into any other type of school.
Q. But, that particular community, so far as the land
area is concerned, would be contained within one of the
areas for the white schools, would it not? A. No. That is
what I just said. Where there is this defined negro com
munity with a school existing in it, we have not zoned that
in. I don’t think, anywhere, would you find that that has
been zoned into one of the white elementary communities
that you were describing earlier.
Q. In other words, if we had an elementary school map
showing the zones of each school, you are saying that the
negro community would be isolated from the zones for the
white elementary schools? A. I said that part of it right
around the school, recognizing that there are negro pupils
who live outside of those communities, and they are not
zoned on any map that I know anything about into the
school community of that particular school.
Q. All right. Now, as to those negro pupils who live
outside of those specific communities, are they, initially,
assigned to the school serving the zone in which they
12 live, and I mean by that the school which white
children attend which serves the zone in which they
live? A. Are initially assigned?
Q. Initially assigned to that school or initially assigned
to the nearest negro school. A. The initial assignment you
are referring to, the first time they come to school, two
things can happen there. It depends altogether where they
seek admission or where they come to register for a school.
Now, I am talking about initial assignment, rather than
transfers. Now, we have just—I was going to say dozens—
I wouldn’t be sure that that would be just right, but numer
ous instances where colored pupils, negro pupils living
in an area that is served predominantly by white schools
have gone directly to white schools to register and attend
there now without ever having been in a negro school, with
out ever having been placed in a negro school to apply out.
Q. "Well, under your regulations—
42
The Court: Just a minute. So I have it perfectly correct,
a colored eligible student living in Fairfax County in an
area which would be within, what we will say, at least
tentative physical boundaries for white school A, as it is
called, and he goes to school for the first time, do I under
stand that if he, through his parents, of course, goes to
the school nearest his home, which happens to be a
13 white school, and he applies for admission, that he
is admitted without question?
The Witness: He is admitted there if that is his desire
in terms now with the assignment law that we are follow
ing in Virginia at the moment. That is true.
The Court: What do you mean, “ within terms of the
assignment law ’ ’ that you are applying, so I understand it ?
The Witness: We are operating under a local assign
ment law at the moment in Fairfax County, as opposed to
the—
The Court: Pupil Placement Law?
The Witness: Pupil Placement Law.
28 Q. Let’s take a child in the 3rd or 4th grade,
a negro child, who is attending one of these negro
schools. The child’s mother wants the child to attend the
school where his white neighbor attends. A. The school
that is near him?
Q. Whichever one his white next-door neighbor attends.
A. Talking about Point No. 2?
29 Q. Point No. 2, yes, sir. I want to know what
are the criteria for that transfer? A. He would
automatically go into it on his request, unless he was going
into a program of special education for retarded which
doesn’t exist there. You said, normal.
31 Q. Am I understanding, from what you are saying
now, that these rules, apparently, promulgated by the
32 School Board on March 19, 1963, resulted from the
applications of these interveners? A. And others
43
like—Simply because it was brought before the Board.
All of these applications brought before the Board two
questions. One was, and this is a transfer business rather
than initial assignment; they were requesting transfer in
some instances to a desegregated school farther from their
homes, their place of residence, and that was taken care of
in Item 2—I am sorry—requesting desegregation, request
ing assignment to desegregated schools farther from their
place of residence. That was taken care of in Item No.
3. Others requested assignment to desegregated schools
closer to place of residence than the school they had been
attending. That is taken care of in Item 2 of this plan.
# # # # # # # # # *
37 Q. That is that the negro child is in the negro
school, he is fed into Luther Jackson? A. Unless
he requests—
Q. Unless he requests? A. —differently. If he lets it
be known that he wants to do something different, then he
comes under No. 2, you see.
Q. And he is fed into Luther Jackson regardless as to
what part of the county he lives in? A. Unless he ex
presses a desire differently, and then it comes under No. 2.
Q. But with every white child who goes to the intermedi
ate or senior high school, he goes according to the zone in
which he lives? A. Yes, sir, generally.
# # # # # * * # # *
40 The Court: Mr. Tucker, let’s see if we can get
at it specifically.
If I am a colored child and I moved into Fairfax this
September, I went to school for the first time and I
lived in what we will call a comingled section, that is not a
solid colored community adjacent to an elementary school,
and I wanted to go to school, could I enroll at the school
nearest me if it was desegregated, as distinguished from
the colored, and did I go in automatically this year?
The Witness: The answer is yes, sir,—
44
The Court: All right.
The Witness: —because our Point No. 2—
The Court: If I am in school and had been in elementary
school for four years, already been there for four years,
and I lived next door to this boy who just came in and en
rolled in this integrated school in a comingled district, as
I call it, and I want to go to that school, can I go and
register and just go in, or do I have to be transferred?
The Witness: You will have to be transferred because
the state law, the Pupil Placement Law under which we
operate, calls for a transfer and sets forth—
41 The Court: But the transfer is automatic?
The Witness: Well, there are certain legal stip
ulations in the law.
The Court: Other than the standard procedure of filing
an application?
The Witness: Yes. If he meets all the other require
ments, Point No. 2—
The Court: Then becomes automatic. All right.
The Witness: Point No. 2 applies there.
By Mr. Tucker:
Q. Let me see how automatic this transfer is. I suppose
I have to have a form to make the application on ? A. That
is the easiest way. The Pupil Placement Law we operate
under says on forms supplied by the State Board of Edu
cation or approved by the State Board of Education.
Q. How do I get the form? A. It can be obtained from
our system.
Q. I have to come to the School Board’s office to get it?
A. You don’t have to come. You can telephone. You
can mail, or you can come, whichever.
Q. The only place I can get such a form is at the School
Board office? A. Basically, yes, sir.
Q. When I fill out the form, what information is
42 called for? A. Well, the age of the child, the person,
identification of the person who is making the ap-
45
plication in behalf of the child, the school formerly at
tended, the grade placement. There is a place on it asking
for the reason for this particular assignment because there
may be all kinds of reasons, and in order to take a
specialized language course or in order to take a vocational
course or in order to attend a desegregated school, what
ever the reason.
Q. I want to fill out the form. Am I required to return
it to the superintendent’s office, or mail it, or just what
do I do with it? A. It comes to the superintendent’s office,
to me.
Q. I can send it by mail! A. By mail, courier, or
bring it.
Q. When you go over the form—When you go over the
form, and assuming that you do not grant the application
for transfer, what is my next step? A. Well, again, when I
go over it, I would apply these criteria. Now, again, since
this was adopted, there hasn’t been one that hasn’t been
granted.
Q. All right. If you should not grant one, then it would
be required to appeal to the School Board? A. The
statute under which we operate does provide that if you
feel aggrieved by the action of placement, that you
43 may appeal that action to the School Board.
44 Q. Now, this system that we have just been dis
cussing which results from these regulations that
the Board adopted on March 19, 1963, will you state in
what way notice of these regulations and of this new system
has been given to the public? A. I don’t think I can tell
you, other than that they were adopted in open meeting
attended by the press.
Q. But the School Board has made no effort to see to
it that people know what was adopted in their meeting?
A. Well, I think the Chairman of the Board ought to
answer that particular question rather than an administra
tive officer.
Q. Do you know of any effort made by the School Board?
A. No, I don’t know what they have done as individuals.
46
I pointed out, as far as I know, the distribution of this
information was through the press media, the press attend
ing the official Board meeting that was open, and reporting.
Q. That is news stories that the reporters
45 themselves wrote on their own initiative? A. That
is right.
Q. But you are not aware of any publication of this
matter that was made by or at the direction of the School
Board? A. Other than that we included it in a press re
lease which we made available to the press and they could
use or not use, as they saw fit.
# # * * # # # # # #
Cross Examination
By Mr. Keith:
47 Q. Out of a total of how many schools in the
system? A. I believe 110, sir.
48 Q. Bo you know why we have the requirement that
the initiative for transfer is on the part of the negro
student? A. Well, there is a time-honored practice, and I
think this has a statutory background, within the frame
work of the Virginia Pupil Placement Board, the same
philosophy being written into the local placement assign
ment, that once a pupil is assigned to a school, he stands
there until graduation therefrom, or until reassigned for
just cause, and the just cause might be through building
a new school or assigning him to a program that exists in
one school but not where he has been attending, but,
basically, it is that he stays there until he is assigned for
a just cause or graduates from it.
.Y. -Y- -V' -)/- -V- AT- -Y- -V- -Y-
50 Re-direct Examination
By Mr. Tucker:
Q. I think, at the beginning, Mr. Pope, we directed your
attention to the intervenors in this case, and, I think, you
said you were familiar with their cases? A. Yes, sir.
47
Q. Now, in each of these cases they filed with your
office this application for transfer on the form that was—
A. Yes, sir.
Q. —obtained from yonr office? A. Yes, sir.
Q. They filled the form out adequately? A. Yes. I
think it was determined that the applications were timely
and appropriate.
Q. Including stating a reason for the requested
51 transfer? A. I don’t have the forms here, but it was
my understanding there was nothing wrong with
the applications.
* * # * # # # # # #
52 Q. But, with respect to these intervenors, it was
your view that you still had no authority to act with
respect to them? A. Sir, not just my view. I determined
completely that they lived closer to the negro school they
had been attending than they did to the white school or
desegregated school they had been applying to, then Point
No. 3 automatically took it to the School Board.
Q. Then, upon their appeal to the School Board, were
you present at the time of the presentation of that? A.
Yes, sir.
53 Q. The parents appeared before the School Board?
A. Well, I don’t know,—
Q. Did an attorney for them appear before the School
Board? A. On at least one accasion, I am sure, there was
one time. The School Board considered these matters
when there was no attorney present.
Q. Wait a minute. You said something about at least
one occasion. Did I understand that on at least one occa
sion an attorney did appear in their behalf? A. That is
my recollection, and, again, it might be better if you directed
this to the Chairman of the Board, because I am speaking
entirely as an observer at that.
Q. The School Board denied their applications for
transfer? A. Initially. Later, they did not deny it. Later,
the School Board withdrew or cancelled out its rejection,
and they are assigned now to the schools.
# # # # # # # # # #
48
58 Eugene L. Newman
was called as a witness for and on behalf of the plaintiffs,
and having first been duly sworn, was examined and
testified as follows:
Direct Examination
By Mr. Brown:
Q. "Will yon state your name for the record, please!
A. Eugene L. Newman.
Q. And your connection with the Fairfax County
59 School System? A. I am Chairman of the Fairfax
County School Board.
60 Q. Mr. Pope has given us some figures, some
statistics on the number of negro and white children
in this Fairfax County School System. Could you tell us,
Mr. Newman, how many—Strike that, please. He has also
indicated that negro schools, as such, are staffed entirely
by negro teachers and administrative people. Can you tell
us how many negro teachers there are in the Fairfax School
System? A. Approximately 100.
Q. Approximately 100? A. I do not have knowledge of
the exact amount.
Q. Can you tell me how many class room teachers there
are, in total, in the Fairfax School System? A. Approxi
mately 3500.
Q. Do any negro teachers teach in white schools? A.
Not to my knowledge.
Q. Can you tell me, Mr. Newman, what the enrollment
of pupils in the Fairfax County School System was as of
a year ago? To clarify, Mr. Pope has indicated that it is
now 80,000. Can you tell me what it was a year ago? A.
Approximately 70,000 a year ago.
Q. The increase in the period of a year, then, has been
by 10,000 pupils, is that correct? A. Approximately, yes.
# # # # # # # * # #
49
68 Q. Now, let’s take the converse of that. Where
the negro child and the white child lived closer to
the negro school than to the white school, what school are
they each assigned to! A. The white child goes to the
nearest white school; the negro child goes to the nearest
colored school.
Q. That was true, or is that true today! A. This falls
under Point 3, where the negro student requesting transfer
to a white or desegrated school farther from his place of
residence shall he referred to the School Board for action.
This is a freedom of choice of where the child desires to go.
Q. What procedure must the negro child go through in
order to make known his desire to attend the white school
that is more distance from his home than the negro school!
A. On an initial assignment?
Q. On an initial assignment. A. He would have to make
application to the Pupil Placement Officer.
Q. And then, I take it, that under Point 3 that appli
cation would be referred to the Board? A. That is
correct.
69 Q. What procedure must be followed by the white
child who lives closer to the negro school than a
white school in order for him to obtain assignment to the
white school? A. He would apply to the nearest white
school.
Q. Who would receive his application? A. The principal.
Q. Who would decide whether he would go to that school?
A. The ultimate authority would rest with Mr. Pope, as
Pupil Placement Officer.
Q. Who would make the decision as to whether he could
attend that school? A. I am not familiar with the work
ings with regard to whether the principal has been dele
gated this authority by Mr. Pope, or whether it must come
to Mr. Pope for the ultimate responsibility.
Q. So, I take it from your answer that you don’t know
who decides whether the white child can attend the white
school that is more distant from his home than the negro
50
school? A. This is handled by the school staff adminis
tration.
# # # * * # # # * #
89 Q. Mr. Newman, the record is established that
Fairfax County operates a dual school system, con
sisting of white and negro schools and a set of so-called
desegrated schools. Will you please tell me, and tell the
Court, if the School Board presently has a plan or pro
cedures that are now in effect by which it intends, which
will accomplish, I should say, the elimination of the dual
school system. I can re-phrase that. I am sorry, I got it
a little mixed. If you want me to re-word it, I will. A.
No, I understand the question. We have in effect
90 this policy of March 19, which, in my opinion, ulti
mately would do away with a dual system, at least
lead toward doing away with one.
Q. I didn’t quite hear you. A. It would, at least, lead
toward doing away with a dual system.
Q. When? A. I cannot say on that; it would depend on
the negroes. They would set their own speed of this.
# * # # # # # # # #
102 George H. Pope
recalled as a witness, having previously been duly sworn,
was examined and testified as follows:
Direct Examination (Continued)
By Mr. Tucker:
Q. Mr. Pope, while the previous witness was on the
stand, a question was directed to you from the Court, and
I believe it had reference to the theoretical situation of a
white and negro child in the neighborhood of Vienna living
closer to the Louise Archer School, which is the negro
school, than to the Flint Hill School. I want to ask you,
as far as the initial enrollment in that situation is con
cerned, what does the white child have to do to attend Flint
Hill School? A. Well, he has to register for school at-
51
tendance, which is applying for enrollment in the school
system.
* * * # * # * # # *
103 The Court: —This child is conceded, hypothet
ically, to live closer to the colored school than the
white school. Does he have to apply to the colored school
when he first attends?
The Witness: No, sir.
# * # # # * # # * *
104 The Court: Then, if he attends the nearest white
school, and that is the nearest white school, he is
automatically let in that school, is that right?
The Witness: If he is in the attendance area of that
school, yes, sir.
* > # # # # # # # * #
105 Q. My question is assuming that both these child
ren lived within the attendance area of the Flint Hill
School, but both of them lived geographically closer to the
Louise Archer School than to the Flint Hill School—Now,
my question is, what does the white child have to do to
be enrolled in the Flint Hill School? A. Just goes up and
enrolls.
106 The Court: Automatically, he says, by applying.
The Witness: Automatically.
By Mr. Tucker:
Q. What would the colored child have to do to enroll in
Flint Hill School under those circumstances? A. He can
go up and apply for enrollment, and then we put No. 3
item of our procedure into operation and we bring that to
the School Board.
The Court: All right. Let me ask you, why do you call
the case of the colored child a transfer, as distinguished
from an initial application?
The Witness: Is that to me, sir?
The Court: Yes.
52
The Witness: My testimony—
The Court: No. 3 applies to transfers.
The Witness: My testimony this morning, sir, is that it
is our understanding and our procedure, the statute, the
local assignment statute, says that subsequent to a certain
date by which transfers are effected, initial assignments
subsequent to that date shall be in the same manner. Now,
that is counsel’s instruction to me.
The Court: What!
The Witness: In the same manner as these trans-
107 fers are handled.
The Court: Why do you have a distinction be
tween the initial assignment of the colored child and the
white child? What is the basis for allowing you to have
that distinction?
The Witness: Again, the basis there for us to do it
would be this procedure that the School Board has stated.
They have asked for a transfer.
The Court: He hasn’t asked for a transfer if he never
attended the school. He has not attended.
The Witness: I realize that.
The Court: He just moved into the county and he wants
to go to the other school.
The Witness: Well, again,—
The Court: That is not a transfer.
The Witness: I know. Our understanding of the statute
is that in this particular case, the initial assignment has to
be handled the same as if it were a transfer.
* * # * # # # # * #
115 Q. Approximately how many intermediate schools
do you have throughout the county? A. Thirteen,
I believe, sir.
Q. I suppose they are generally distributed throughout
the county? A. Yes, sir.
Q. How many senior schools do you have? A. High
schools, fifteen.
Q. Yes? A. Fifteen.
53
Q. I suppose they are generally distributed throughout
the county? A. Yes.
Q. The Luther P. Jackson School is near, at or near,
somewhere near the center of the county? A. Generally
near the geographic center of the county, yes, sir.
Q. These six elementary schools that feed children
116 into Luther Jackson School are generally scattered
throughout the county? A. Yes, and in accordance
with the distribution of the major portion of the negro
population.
118 Q. Before this meeting of March 19 of the School
Board, at which these present guide lines were set
up which we have been referring to all day, you had a
policy by which applications on the part of negroes to
enter white or desegrated schools had to be filed on or
before April 5, did you not? A. That is statutory in Vir
ginia, see, that is in the local pupil placement law for
transfers.
Q. For transfers? A. Yes, sir.
Q. And you still, then, I take it, adhere to that require
ment that an application for transfer must be made by
April 5? A. That is true, unless there has been a change
of residence or one of those special programs that I had
talked about earlier being set up in a school different from
the one that the youngster is in. This is statutory, where
the requirement—and you can read it very clearly—
119 that if a pupil is attending one school and desires to
attend a school different from that one, the statute
provides he must make that application by April 5 and
that the School Board must act upon it within 10 days.
# # # * # # # # # #
125 All right. You tell me how you can intervene in
a suit that is non-existent. I will be glad to hear
from you, Mr. Brown.
54
Mr. Brown: Your Honor, may I say, first, that we would
have no objection to the proceeding that has been
126 heard today being docketed as a new one.
The Court: I know you do not have any objection,
but you are not the one that has to agree to that.
I want you to tell me. It is your suit. On what legal
theory can you intervene in a suit that you know is non
existent, having been dismissed?
Mr. Brown: Sir, we have two motions. One was a mo
tion to intervene, but the motion that we have been talking
about with more particularity through the day is this mo
tion for further interlocutory and permanent injunctive
relief which has been brought by the previous plaintiffs
in the case.
The Court: That suit is dismissed.
Mr. Brown: To that, sir, I would like to explain this.
That order dismissing it or striking it from the docket
was entered on November 1, I960; within 10 days there
after the plaintiffs filed a motion for new trial on part of
the issues, particularly directing the motion to the rehear
ing on that, that order striking it from the docket. That
motion for rehearing, sir, I believe the docket will show
has never been acted upon.
The Court: Whether it has or not—I am sure it has
because you withdraw everything.
Mr. Brown: No, sir.
The Court: The 4th of April order entered in
127 here granting you leave to withdraw, further motion
for injunctive relief ordered and filed—
Mr. B row : That is right, sir. That is a motion for
further interlocutory and permanent injunctive relief. But
there was a motion for a new trial filed in this case on
November 10, 1960, which has never been acted upon, and
we could never have appealed this case because there has
never been a final order entered and our pleadings set this
forth, sir.
The Court: What pleadings?
55
Mr. Brown: On page 2 of our motion for further inter
locutory and permanent injunctive relief. We have related
the chronology of it.
The Court: Go ahead.
Mr. Brown: Well, as I say I believe the docket of the
case will show that the motion for new trial was never acted
upon. Under those circumstances—
The Court: You do not have any grounds for a new
trial of the first one.
Mr. Brown: We asked for it in November.
The Court: I do not care what you asked for. It would
be summarily denied. On what grounds did you ask for a
new trial of Judge Bryan’s hearing?
Mr. Brown: The ground on which the new trial was
asked, sir, was the fact that it was stricken from the
128 docket and no injunctive relief was granted, we
submit.
The Court: All right, that is it, and Judge Bryan heard it.
Mr. Brown: Never acted on it.
The Court: There is an order in there on that every sub
ject? It said he considered it and he struck it from the
docket?
Mr. Brown: No, sir. The motion was filed after he
struck it from the docket.
The Court: Your motion for a new trial was filed
11/10/1960.
Mr. Brown: Yes, sir.
The Court: The motion for withdrawing the pending
motion for further interlocutory and permanent injunctive
relief was entered on 4/4/61.
Mr. Brown: That is another motion, sir, the motion for
new trial. That was another motion that was made. The
motion for new trial was pending throughout that period.
It was never acted on. There is no order in the docket
showing that the order—that the motion for new trial was
ever acted upon, sir, either granted or denied.
And we submit that under the authority we could never
56
have appealed this case while that unacted-upon motion
for new trial was pending.
The Court: Why didn’t you bring it up for hear-
129 ing? Why did you let it set there three years if you
had any intentions to appeal it?
Mr. Brown: Well, sir, it is setting there. Now, for a
period of time it appeared that the Fairfax County School
Board was performing its responsibilities in a proper and
constitional manner. At this time three years after Judge
Bryan’s suit decision in the case it appears that the school
board is not carrying out its responsibilities so we are
saying that we are back in Court under the same case be
cause the motion for new trial has never been acted on.
Now, I would also—and this is really, I think, probably
the easiest way out of this dilemma—I would also call the
Court’s attention, sir, to Rule 60' of the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure, which specifically provide—-60(b) specifi
cally provide that a party may move to open the judgment
in a formal proceeding, in a proceeding which a judgment,
a final judgment in a proceeding which was before the
Court. In other words, the authorities construing Rule
60(b) show that a court of equity has a continuing juris
diction over its own decree even though it is a decree dis
missing the action or striking it from its docket, if you
will, and whether the pleadings—
The Court: You have 60(b) there. Let me see it.
Mr. Brown: Yes, sir. 60(b) clause 6 particu-
130 larly, sir.
The Court: 60 does not have any application. It
does not mean that to me. That rule does not mean that.
What you are saying any judgment this Court ever en
tered it can open it up at will, and that is not what that
rule says.
Mr. Brown: That is the way it is construed, sir.
The Court: Upon proper showing it is, sir.
Mr. Brown: Yes, sir.
As a matter of fact, the authority Moore on Federal
Procedure you will see in discussion of this rule that it is
57
not significant how the papers are styled. They can be
misstyled.
The Court: No question, about that.
Mr. Brown: Misstyled. It can be called, as we have
here, a motion for further relief or a motion to open the
judgment, or it might be even called a motion or it might
even be styled as a complaint in a new proceeding. And
we would request, and I really say this in sincerity, that it
would offer us a way out of this dilemma and it would
offer a way for conserving the Court’s time so today’s
activities have not been wasted to consider these pleadings
that we have filed herein as pleadings designed to open the
former judgment in this case. I think Rule 60(b)—
The Court: I think it is rather useless to con-
131 sider them as such, frankly, because I would not
reopen it, I will answer that bluntly if it were such
a motion and be timely filed, because the same end result
could just as easily have been accomplished assuming the
suit had been determined by filing a complaint.
I have never been able to see and I would like for some
one to enlighten me how you gentlemen seem to think that
it is so much better to keep a ease on the docket for 15
years, just piling up with back records, when for practical
purposes it would be so much better to have a separate
suit, a new one, that confined the issue to a narrow ques
tion and then anybody who wanted to use it for any pur
pose would not have to thumb through 5,000 pages, they
would know exactly what they were talking about. For
some reason you do not want to do it. I just do not know
why a new suit is not better.
I am going to take a short recess and I hope we do not
have to do this all over again. If we do I am going to have
to lay the blame on you gentlemen because you certainly
should have known this suit was dismissed. You argued
about making new party plaintiffs and talking about other
parties in the suit this morning. I did not look through all
this voluminous file that Judge Bryan had heard. There
58
were several reasons. First, I do not think it is my prov
ince to look over something that my predecessor has
done.
132 If they want to consider it and it can be done by
consent I will take any reasonable solution that is
within the framework of the rules to change the style of
the proceedings, hut I am. not going to require the defend
ants to do anything they do not want to do.
You confer -with them. Take a 10-minute recess.
(After recess.)
Mr. Keith: May it please the Court, I want to say on
behalf of the school board that they are unanimous in
adopting your Honor’s suggestion that this intervening
petition be considered as a new suit and that the proceed
ings today be taken in connection therewith.
The Court: I want to publicly thank you. I want to
publicly thank the school board for their public considera
tion because the suit certainly would have had to have been
dismissed and in this status because there was just no ex
cuse whatsoever for it being brought before the Court. It
should have come up in pretrial. A half dozen places this
should have been known and never have happened.
Certainly I am not going to allow the procedure of this
Court to be so flagrantly violated except by consent and
taking this into consideration, and I think they should be
congratulated. Thank you.
Go ahead. The motion is granted and the Clerk is di
rected to style this as a new suit as of June 14, that
133 is the date it was filed, the original filing date, and
make the new petitioners as petitioners and the school
board as defendants the same as it is captioned therein.
And we will consider all of the evidence, all the exhibits
that have been introduced in this hearing as evidence and
exhibits in support of and in opposition to the pleadings
to this new suit.
* # # # # * * * * *
59
(Filed March 3, 1964)
Memorandum Opinion
Glenda Blakeney, an infant, and others similarly situ
ated, ask leave to intervene as party plaintiffs in Civil
Action No. 1967, seeking further interlocutory and per
manent injunctive relief against the defendant Fairfax
County School Board.
Specifically, they seek admission to the Fairfax County
schools on a racially non-discriminatory basis; an order
enjoining the School Board from making initial assign
ments of Negro children to schools which none hut Negroes
attend; and reasonable costs and attorneys’ fees.
Civil Action No. 1967 having been dismissed and re
moved from the docket of this Court by order entered
therein November 1, 1960, the motion to intervene was
denied.
Whereupon the parties agreed that the pleadings as
tendered on and after June 14, 1963, and the evidence and
exhibits tendered September 12, 1963, be considered by the
Court as a new suit instituted by the intervenors against
the named defendants.
It was so ordered, and the suit was styled ‘ ‘ Civil Action
No. 3067, Glenda Blakeney, infant, et al. v. Fairfax County
School Board, et al.”
From the record thus made, the Court’s findings and
conclusions are as follows:
Prior to the Brown decision1 Fairfax County maintained
a dual school system: one for Negro students; one for all
other races. Shortly thereafter the placement of all chil
dren in. the Fairfax County schools was taken from the
local School Board and vested in the state Pupil Place
ment Board. The assignment of students remained with
1 Brown v. Board of Education, 349 U.S. 294.
60
the state Board until the 1961-62 school year, at which time
placement responsibilities were reinvested in the local
School Board.
On March 19, 1963, the School Board of Fairfax County
adopted the following resolution governing pupil place
ment procedures:
“ 1. Any Negro pupil already attending a desegregated
school, and who is completing the sixth or eighth
grade, will be assigned to the next higher school
where his classmates will attend, provided such
placement is consistent with criteria for assign
ments and regulations of State Board of Educa
tion affecting pupil assignments.
“2. Any Negro pupil requesting transfer, without
graduation from school presently attended, to a
white or desegregated school nearer his or her
place of residence, shall be permitted attendance
at the school serving place of residence, provided
all other criteria governing transfer applications,
and all regulations of the State Board of Educa
tion governing pupil assignments have been met.
“ 3. Any application for transfer of a Negro student
to a white or desegregated school farther from
pupil’s place of residence then (sic) the all-Negro
school presently attended shall be referred to the
School Board for action.
“ With respect to those Negro students being promoted
from a segregated school, the same procedures would
be applicable as to white students; i.e., application for
attendance at a school other than the one of assign
ment would have to be made and same criteria applied,
generally the proof of extenuating circumstances justi
fying the transfer.”
61
Brown, and the subsequent rulings of the Supreme Court
and the Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in the
many school cases, command a racially non-discriminatory
public school system. Reduced to the simplest common
denominator, this means all eligible students (white and
colored) must be admitted to the public schools on the same
basis. There can be no requirement of one that is not
required of the other.
Facially, the resolution of March 19th would appear to
be racially discriminatory in that it refers to Negro pupils
only. It also refers to desegregated and segregated
schools—implying a dual system. Point three requires
School Board approval for transfer of a Negro student to
a white or desegregated school farther from his place of
residence. Such approval would not be required of a white
student under similar circumstances according to the testi
mony of G-eorge H. Pope, the Assistant Superintendent in
charge of placements. (Except in one or two isolated cases
there are no known cases of white children residing in the
attendance areas surrounding the six so-called all-Negro
elementary schools.)
Notwithstanding the apparent facial infirmity of the
March 19th resolution, the placement of pupils, both initial
and transfer, in the Fairfax County school system is being
administered on a racially non-discriminatory basis. Fixed
attendance areas are delineated for each of the 110 school
buildings located throughout Fairfax County. Many of
these attendance areas are subject to change annually due
to the ever expanding school population which is growing
at the rate of about eight thousand students per year.
There was no evidence of gerrymandering school attend
ance areas for the purpose of perpetuating all-colored
schools.
New students (white and colored) entering the school
system for the first time, whether they be first graders or
<i move-ins? ? from other jurisdictions, are automatically
62
assigned to the school nearest to their place of residence.
Except for change of residence,2 and for other good cause,®
these students remain in the school of original assignment
until graduation, at which time they are automatically as
signed to the next higher school where their classmates will
attend.
Eighty thousand five hundred fifty-eight students were
enrolled in the Fairfax County school system during the
1963-64 school year of whom 2,529 are Negro, 2,101 of
whom attend six all-colored elementary schools, one all
colored intermediate school and one all-colored senior high
school. The remaining 428 Negro students attended 44
integrated elementary, intermediate and senior high schools
located in various parts of the County. Of these Negro
children, 214 attended integrated schools this year for the
first time. The 2,101 Negro students now attending the
all-colored six elementary, one intermediate and one senior
high school are so attending solely on account of their
place of residence or by choice.4
All of the infant intervenors are now attending a white
or desegrated school nearest their place of residence. They
were so assigned prior to the hearing of this case.
Upon the record thus made the Court concludes that
Fairfax County is not maintaining a dual or segregated
school system. The Court further concludes that all eligi
ble students seeking admission to the Fairfax County pub
lic schools, initially and via transfer, are being so admitted
2 A change of residence permits a transfer on a non-discrimina-
tory basis to the school serving- that attendance area.
3 Vocational training; special subjects taught only in special
schools—handicapped children—etc.
4 All Negro students attending the so'-ealled all-Negro inter
mediate and senior high school, who live nearer to an all-white or
desegregated school, will be automatically so transferred upon
request.
on a racially noil-discriminatory basis. Therefore the
prayer for further interlocutory and permanent injunctive
relief will be DENIED.
The policy resolution of March 19th, however, should be
referred to apply to all students instead of to only Negro
students, thereby conforming with the placement practice
and eliminating its facial infirmity.
The intervenors further contend the “ racially non-dis-
criminatory school system,” as required by the Brown
decision, includes a non-segregated teaching and adminis
trative staff, and pray that this Court enter an order here
in so directing.
The limited evidence on this subject, as introduced here
in, discloses that the Fairfax County School Board employs
both Negro and white school teachers and principals. There
are some Negroes in the administrative branch; the Super
intendent and his principal assistants are white.
There are no white teachers teaching in the six elemen
tary, one intermediate and one senior high school, attend
ing solely by Negro students, and no Negro teachers are
teaching in the so-called all-white or desegregated schools.
There was no evidence as to how teachers or administra
tive personnel were employed or assigned. There was no
evidence of discrimination.
Th motion in intervention filed herein June 14, 1963,
which was treated as the complaint by agreement of the
parties, neither charges discrimination in employment or
assignment of teachers or administrative personnel nor
prays for injunctive relief in respect thereto. It is a
“ class action” brought on behalf of the infant intervenors
and others similarly situated seeking admission to the
public schools on a racially non-diseriminatory basis.
The relief sought as to the teaching and administrative
staff is clearly beyond the scope of the pleading and will
be DENIED.
64
The prayer for attorneys’ fees having been withdrawn
in open Court, each party will be required to pay their own
costs with the exception of the cost of the transcript of the
evidence, amounting to $78.00, which will be taxed against
the School Board.
/ s / Obex R. L ewis
United States District Judge
March 3, 1964
A True Copy, Teste:
W a l k l e y E. J ohnson, Clerk
By Betty Dodson
Deputy Clerk
SEAL
(Filed March 3, 1964)
Order
For the reasons set forth in the memorandum opinion
this day filed herein, the intervening petition, treated as
an original complaint, is dismissed with each of the parties
paying their respective costs, with the exception of the cost
of the transcript of the evidence, amounting to $78.00,
which shall be taxed as costs against the defendant School
Board.
The Clerk will forward copies of this order together
with a copy of the memorandum opinion to the attorneys
of record.
/ s / Oben R. L ewis
United States District Judge
March 3, 1964